In an interview he gave to the European Western Balkans web portal, Ioannis Armakolas talked about the policy recommendations made by ELIAMEP’s South-East Europe Programme team on the Politics of Enlargement shortly before the start of the Civil Society and Think Tank Forum. Asked whether the 2030 target was feasible, both for the Western Balkans and for the EU, he answered that it was a difficult but not impossible task.
“Both sides (the EU and the Western Balkans) will have to step up their efforts. For its part, the EU needs to speed up its discussions and decisions on certain crucial internal reforms and address the primary ‘hurdle’: the fiscal implications. Turning to the Western Balkans, I would say that candidate states which are not affected by pending status issues and/or bilateral disputes – these include Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania – could carry out significant reforms so as to be ready for accession by the end of the decade,” he said.
Click to read the interview.
