The “10 Years after Thessaloniki” conference is being held in Dublin and was organized by the Irish presidency, as enlargement is one of its priorities.
Talking about the length of the enlargement process, Pusić said that in terms of human life span accession process was very long, stressing that the “negotiating process was not important in term of attaining membership, but for the building of state institutions and implementing reforms.” There were many obstacles we could not have avoided nor foreseen, Pusić said in regard to Croatia’s accession process. We used to see the EU as a way out of the Balkans, but today membership is actually an opportunity for all the countries in the region to assume responsibility for their own stability and future. Serbia and Macedonia are awaiting the date, while Kosovo is about to start the talks on the Stabilization and Association Agreement, Pusić said.
“Further enlargement is in fact a reunification of Europe that begun with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, said Lucinda Creighton, the Irish Minister of State for European Affairs, in her opening address, adding that all of the member states should assist the Western Balkan countries. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore said that “each country should be assessed according to its individual achievements,” but that the EU nevertheless needed to see concrete implementation and progress.
Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement said that “deeper political consensus has always meant a speedier accession process.”
The first part of the panel was dedicated to the development of the accession process, while the second one concentrated on economic stabilization as the next challenge. The conference closed with a panel on the future of the enlargement towards the Western Balkans.
On the fringes of the conference, Pusić held talks with European Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle.