Falconi: French Enlargement Reform Proposal Could Benefit Serbia

Ambassador Falconi (Beta/Milan Obradovic)

French Ambassador to Serbia Jean-Louis Falconi has said that the French proposal to reform the enlargement process was mostly geared toward countries that are yet to begin accession talks, but that it could also benefit nations that are already negotiating, like Serbia and Montenegro.

Falconi told the European Policy Center Belgrade on Dec. 2 that the proposal envisaged the possibility of admitting West Balkan states into the club sans voting rights before officially inducting them into full European Union membership.

"That is the most important aspect.  Instead of slicing the negotiating process into many chapters, the idea is to allow accessing countries closer, step after step, to the final integration," the ambassador said.

He also said that it would be worthwhile to explore if and how "Serbia and others who have opened the accession process, can fit into that process."

He added that Serbian EU Integration Minister Jadranka Joksimovic's argument that the method agreed upon at the beginning of accession negotiations should not be modified in the course of the process was a "valid" argument.

"I think our paper is directed, first and foremost, [to those] that have not yet opened the negotiations of accessions," the French ambassador said.

He noted, however, that the French proposal could cause "those already in the accession negotiation process, like Serbia and Montenegro, to benefit of the process."