Florence Ferrari: Proposal on Gradual EU Accession Has Economic, Political Benefits

Florence Ferrari (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

Ambassador of France to Serbia Florence Ferrari has stated that the Franco-German proposal on enlargement, formulated at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, was aimed at initiating a new dynamic of the Union’s enlargement.

“We propose the implementation of a pre-accession strategy that is adjusted for every member candidate, so as to accelerate their integration based on merit and the Copenhagen criteria, while maintaining the same goal, which is full membership. The goal of the strategy is to incentivize all reforms that will bring direct and tangible benefits to the candidate countries and their population,” Ferrari said in an interview to BETA and Radio Sto Plus on July 8.

In her words, “these benefits will be economic, through access to the common market, as well as political, through participation in EU meetings and, naturally, through all those initiatives that are very important for young people, such as Creative Europe, Digital Europe, Horizon Europe – and not forgetting Erasmus+ for student mobility.”

She emphasized that the implementation of the strategy depended on the member states, as well as on the member candidates which need to accept the initiative. Ferrari said that, in her opinion, the fact that France and Germany chose the EU- Balkans Summit in Tivat on June 5 to formulate the proposal about enlargement was very important. She added that the Franco-German proposal “takes into consideration and acknowledges” the frustration of candidate countries with the enlargement process, which seems long and complex to them.