The European Commission on Tuesday signalled that the European Union could welcome new members as early as 2030, commending Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova for advancing reforms required for accession.
At the same time, the Commission criticised Serbia for lagging in its reform efforts and warned that Georgia has experienced “serious democratic backsliding,” now classifying the former Soviet republic as a candidate country “in name only.”
"Expanding the Union is in our best interest," Reuters quoted EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas as telling reporters in Brussels as she presented the Commission's annual report on would-be members' efforts to join the bloc.
Earlier, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said Montenegro, a Balkan nation of around 600,000 people, was the furthest along among candidate countries on its path to EU membership.
Kos, who manages the EU executive’s engagement with prospective members, also lauded Albania for its “unprecedented progress” and noted that Moldova, which shares a border with Ukraine, had advanced with “accelerated speed” despite significant pressures.
EU presses Ukraine over tackling corruption
Ukraine has continued to advance its EU membership bid despite the dual challenges of Russia’s invasion and Hungary blocking formal progress in negotiations.
"Ukraine has demonstrated its commitment to its EU path, moving forward on key reforms," Reuters quoted Kos as saying. "It will be essential to sustain this momentum and prevent any risk of backsliding, in particular (on) anti-corruption."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the report, tweeting, "We expect the EU's decisive action to overcome all artificial obstacles for a strong and united Europe."
Zelenskyy later expressed his desire for Ukraine to join the EU before 2030, though experts say this is unlikely due to the extensive reforms required and hesitation among existing member states to admit a poor, war-torn country of nearly 40 million people.
The European Commission’s annual report noted that Ukraine must make further progress on the rule of law.
EU officials had previously flagged concerns over July measures that increased the political appointee prosecutor general’s control over the country’s anti-corruption bureau and specialised prosecution unit.
Although rare wartime protests prompted Ukraine’s leadership to reverse these actions, the episode drew significant attention from its EU partners.
"Recent negative trends, including a pressure on the specialised anti-corruption agencies and civil society, must be decisively reversed,” the Commission said.
"In light of Georgia's continued backsliding on the fundamentals since (last year's report), the Commission considers Georgia a candidate country in name only," Kos said.
The ruling Georgian Dream party, accused by critics of a drift towards authoritarianism and a more pro-Russia foreign policy, has frozen EU accession talks and has accused Brussels of plotting revolution in Georgia, which the EU strongly denies.
Last week, the speaker of Georgia's parliament, who is a senior member of the ruling party, said it was seeking to ban the country's three largest opposition parties for posing a threat to "the constitutional order".
With inputs from agencies
