“Check against delivery”
Dear Mr President, Madame Speaker, Distinguished Guests,
Members of the European Parliament,
I’m happy to see so many friends of Europe and of the Western Balkans here today.
I am immensely proud to take on this role, because I know we are living a historic moment. For the first time in a decade, there is a realistic prospect that we can bring one or more enlargement countries to the finish line during this mandate.
For me, this is a deeply personal mission. My life has been shaped by enlargement. EU membership was the aspiration of my generation. When we achieved it on 1 May 2004, it was one of my life’s brightest moments. Hope, opportunities and a vision of a peaceful and prosperous future were driving all of us.
Over these past decades, I have seen this become reality: I’ve seen the disappearance of borders that once divided Europeans. First, between Austria and Germany, which made it much easier for me to drive to Bonn where I was a journalist.
Later, Slovenia’s borders with Italy, Austria, Hungary, disappeared. And finally also those with Croatia. And everywhere we could see that with the physical barriers, many historical tensions also faded away.
Yes, the European Union is a peace project.
Unfortunately, the country of my youth – the country I once represented as an Olympic swimmer – took the opposite direction. The wars of the 1990s left resentment, distrust and new borders.
So naturally, my dream is to have all of the Western Balkans integrated in this Union, and see borders and bilateral conflicts disappear, just like they did in so many other parts of our continent.
I will do my best to help ensure that the bilateral disputes of the past, do not permanently stand in the way of our common future.
During my Parliamentary hearing, I recalled the powerful words of Simone Veil, the Parliament’s first female President. In her inaugural speech in 1979, she identified three fundamental challenges for Europe: peace, freedom, and prosperity.
And she said that they could “only be met through the European dimension.”
Yes, also today, peace, freedom and prosperity depend on a stronger and more united Europe.
On Sunday, I was in Ukraine together with the President of the Council, António Costa, and HR/VP Kaja Kallas. We went there to show support to a nation, which has been resisting Russia’s full-scale war of aggression for more than 1,000 days now.
And I told President Zelenskyy, and Deputy Prime Minister Stefanishyna, that the Ukrainian people can count on me to be part of their team and help them prepare their place inside the European Union.
I said the same to all the Western Balkans leaders I met this week. And Deputy Prime Minister Gherasimov of Moldova.
And my question was not only what the EU will bring to the enlargement countries, but what they can do to contribute to a stronger and more secure Europe.
I see it as my responsibility to be our future members’ best advocate. Yes, the process is merit-based. And democracy and rule of law will remain its backbone. But if candidates deliver, I want to match their efforts. I will dedicate, together with my team, all my experience and energy to advancing the process as quickly and efficiently as possible.
And I have support. This new Commission is an Enlargement Commission.
President von der Leyen has tasked every single Member of her College to play an active role in supporting candidate countries. This means, our candidates can count on the expertise and dedication of all parts of the Commission. There is unity in Brussels around building a bigger and stronger Union.
I will ask you to show this same unity in your countries.
Accession negotiations require an intense effort by the whole society – government alone cannot do the job.
It needs to be a national project – everyone needs to own it: the parliament, the opposition, civil society, every region, town, and village, and ultimately every single citizen in your countries.
This is why, when I will come visit the Western Balkans and other enlargement countries, I will try and meet everyone.
I will travel outside the capitals. I will meet human rights defenders, powerful women and youth groups.
Because civil society organisations are an important connective tissue between governments and the people, amplifying voices, safeguarding rights, and holding power to account.
I will also do my best to make sure civil society organisations will receive more EU financial support in the future.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A lot of the work we will be doing together will be technical – clusters, chapters, benchmarks.
But I would like us to be aware that enlargement is not just a technical process. It is nothing short of the reunification of Europe. It is about the people.
In Kyiv, I met Maksym Butkevych, a human rights activist. He spent two years in Russian captivity.
He told me: “What helped me survive, was believing in our values.”
Values gave him hope. And he looked at the European Union as a guardian of values: of human dignity, of freedom and democracy, of solidarity and human rights. Those values and his dream of a better tomorrow were his anchor in difficult times.
Let us never forget this bigger picture. Our values and the reunification of Europe.
And let us also recover the enthusiasm about EU enlargement we once had. The enthusiasm I felt in Slovenia.
When in 2004, millions of Europeans lit fireworks and locked their glasses, they did not do it to celebrate full alignment with the acquis. Also not because our common market had gained leverage for trade negotiations.
They did it because our community of values was growing. Or because a historic injustice had been put right. Or because they felt that we had brought to an end what Milan Kundera once called “the kidnapping of one part of the west”.
This is the spirit I want us to recover, because our community of values is not yet complete. Our continent is not yet reunited. And sadly, in some parts of Europe, the kidnapping goes on.
We have a lot of work to do. So let’s roll up our sleeves. I count on all of you.
Source – EU Commission