Remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas and Commissioner Kos on the 2025 enlargement package

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High Representative/Vice-President Kallas

Good afternoon,

Today the European Commission adopted its annual report on enlargement - a state of play for each accession country. Commissioner Kos and I will present this now.

The College also discussed a new high-speed rail network plan and transport investment plan. Executive Vice-President Fitto and Commissioner Tzitzikostas will present these here tomorrow at 10:00.

Finally, we approved two appointments today first, Petr Klement as Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office - OLAF. And second, Alberto De Gregorio Merino as Director-General of the Commission's Legal Service. The date of effect of both appointments will be determined at a later stage.

Now on the main topic of today.

Enlargement is a political priority and a geopolitical investment. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and geopolitical shifts make the case for enlargement clear-cut. Enlargement is not a 'nice to have', it is necessity if we want to be a stronger player on the world stage. Chances to enlarge the Union do not come often, but the window is now wide open.

At the same time, we will not cut corners, and we do not offer shortcuts. Joining the EU remains a fair, tough and merit-based process. But new countries joining the EU by 2030 is a realistic goal.

Commissioner Kos will go into more details and specifics of each country but in a nutshell: the scorecards are largely positive for Albania, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine. The outlook is mixed for Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Türkiye, and negative for Georgia.

Montenegro is the most advanced in the EU accession process. Albania has unprecedented momentum. Both are frontrunners for membership.

For Ukraine, membership in the EU can be a major security guarantee. No candidate country has ever implemented such sweeping reforms while at war. This shows Ukraine's remarkable commitment to membership.

Moldova's elections in October showed a clear 'yes' to a European future and the country has continued to implement key reforms.

Serbia and Kosovo each saw political crises that stalled progress. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, events in the Republika Srpska undermined progress towards EU accession. As I said in Sarajevo yesterday, the EU remains committed to the country's security. Judicial reform laws and appointing a Chief Negotiator are key to move forward on accession. North Macedonia has not yet made the required constitutional changes.

Georgia has no viable path to the EU at this stage unless conditions change dramatically. It is now a candidate country in name only. Türkiye remains a key partner with whom we have engaged in several areas. But the deterioration of democratic standards, judicial independence, and fundamental rights have de facto frozen the enlargement process since 2018.

Enlargement is an immensely technical process. But it is far more than screening, negotiation chapters and implementing reforms. It is a choice. For example, alignment with the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy is a fundamental part of the process. Because this demonstrates a candidate country's choice to see the world as we do and shape it with us.

Cleaning up corruption, cementing the rule of law and supporting free media are also as much about national and European security as they are about meeting fundamental accession criteria.

Security is at the top of everybody's agenda right now. That is why we have already deepened security and defence cooperation with accession countries. We have signed joint security commitments with Ukraine, established Security and Defence Partnerships with Moldova, North Macedonia, and Albania, and are about to launch a new Security and Defence Dialogue with Montenegro.

Closer security cooperation is just one aspect of the support we offer candidate countries. This includes also financial assistance and gradual integration in the single market. I will leave Commissioner Kos to dive deeper into this.

Enlargement is also not just about the candidates, the European Union needs to be ready as well. To ensure this, the Commission is working on policy reviews and reforms to be able to grow.

Expanding the EU is in our best interest. It's a long-term investment in our security, economy, and global edge. Through enlargement Europe can grow its geopolitical power.

Commissioner Kos

Thank you so much.

Today is the end of the one-year period when we have been preparing this enlargement report, 2025. Tomorrow, we will start with the preparation for the enlargement report 2026.

A big thank you to my team, to my director general, Gert Jan, Head of Cabinet, Marko, Gesine, the lead of the project, and Thomas, our guru of the whole enlargement report.

Happy to have you all here, especially because this is really a lot of work. There are hundreds and hundreds of hours being incorporated into the enlargement reports.

This is a very serious job, because not just us, all of you, and many others, will have a look through the whole year on what is inside these reports. Those reports are, of course, an evaluation of how our candidate countries are doing. It is more than 100 pages per country. At the same time, I would like to stress that, of course, we go very deep. We want to acknowledge the achievements, and we also want to say what still needs to be done.

There is not enough time, in my short introduction, to go through specifics on country, but perhaps I will get some more questions. So, whatever we do with this enlargement report, it is really giving the hand to all our candidate countries. "Here you are. We are willing to help. You have to deliver, and we will deliver too."

The first enlargement report of this Commission mandate. How to read it? We should read it against the background of a rapidly transforming geopolitical landscape. Today, Europeans need to do a lot more to take control of our own continent and protect our own security and prosperity. This can only be done successfully by working hand in hand with our neighbours, especially the candidate countries, to create a strong, stable, secure and united Europe based on our shared values.

Only if we complete the unification of Europe, we can ensure peace, freedom and prosperity on our continent. Overall, this year 2025 was a very good year for the enlargement process. There have been significant advances. The progress on the EU path achieved so far by, as we have heard by our Vice-President, Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine, shows that reforms pay off. This should serve as a strong motivation for all countries engaged in the process.

The EU has also stepped up our response to new geopolitical realities through gradual integration, which really is bringing results, including through the Ukraine facility and growth plan for both Western Balkans and Moldova. We have started integrating candidate countries in key policy areas such as energy or defence, and in some parts of the single market, such as financial services, SEPA or roaming - provided they meet, of course, the conditions. All are crucial to anchor our candidates in the key areas of the Union, while advancing on accession negotiations. We have also been more assertive in assisting some of our candidates to protect their democratic space and fend of foreign interference and disinformation, like in Moldova.

Any future enlargement needs to make our union stronger, and to achieve that, we need to progress on two fronts. First, future Member States must prepare for the responsibilities of membership. Second, we ourselves, the European Union, must prepare our union for a larger EU.

Given the pace of some candidate countries, a successful enlargement is a realistic possibility. I cannot tell you how happy I am to be able to say this: it is a realistic possibility, within the coming years. Our candidates have ambitious goals. Montenegro wants to finish negotiations at the end of 2026, Albania at the end of 2027. Moldova and Ukraine in 2028.

For me personally, ambitions are more important than years, and the Commission is supporting them, those ambitious. For this year, I can say that these four candidates have matched their ambitions with concrete actions.

Montenegro is the most advanced in the EU accession process and has made significant progress toward EU accession, producing tangible results on required reforms in the past years - meaning that generally, it is the most prepared country for the EU entry. In those enlargement reports, we measured the yearly progress from one year, 2024 to 2025, and also general preparedness. So general preparedness is the highest in Montenegro. Since our last report, four negotiation chapters have been closed, and more, five to six are expected still this year.

Albania has made unprecedented progress. Five out of six negotiation clusters are already open. The remaining one could still be in this November. This outstanding result is a recognition of the firm political commitment of Albania and the clear EU aspirations of its society. 91% of the citizens of Albania are supporting EU membership, the highest number from all the candidates.

For Moldova in Ukraine, the Commission will continue work to put the Council in the position to be able, by November, to open all the clusters. We are trying to find the solution for how this could happen, and it is important is that the reforms will not be stopped. So, what can we do, so that in both countries, the reforms which they have started, so good, will go on.

Moldova has progressed on its accession path with accelerated speed and significantly deepened its cooperation with the EU. Despite the continuous hybrid threats and attempts to destabilise the country on its EU course. Moldova has made the biggest one-year progress from all the candidates.

Ukraine has demonstrated its commitment to its EU path, moving forward on key reforms when the country is at war, when the bombs are falling on the country. I am really full of admiration for what this country is delivering. Can you imagine? We are as tough to every other candidate country, also to Ukraine - and they are delivering reforms. This is a special factor we all should consider when we speak about the success of Ukraine. Of course, there is still further, and steady progress needed in the fight against corruption.

In Serbia, the authorities continue to declare EU membership as their strategic goal, but the deeds should follow. The actual pace of reform implementation has slowed down significantly. While some recent positive developments are noted, for instance, on the field of media laws, Serbia needs to ensure credible progress across the board, notably to overcome the standstill in the area of judiciary and fundamental rights. Backsliding on freedom of expression and academic freedom needs to be urgently reversed. This is also what citizens of Serbia are requesting. Serbian authorities also need to make their strategic choice clear. Avoid anti EU rhetoric - here, I will be much stricter - and show more proactive and objective communication on the country's EU accession process. And of course, what you have been saying, Kaja, that they have to align better with the European Foreign and Security Policy.

No real progress was observed in the last year for North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, and the reasons are different. The Commission will continue supporting them in their work towards the EU.

In Georgia, the situation has sharply deteriorated, with serious democratic backsliding. Probably never, ever before, one of the enlargement reports has been really speaking so much about backsliding. We saw a rapid erosion of the rule of law and severe restrictions on fundamental rights. Georgian authorities need to urgently reverse their course. Georgian citizens demand a European future, and they have our support. For the Commission, the candidate status for Georgia exists only on the paper.

For Turkey, the accession negotiations remain at standstill since 2018. At the same time, the country is a key partner, sharing the same strategic interest in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as in the Black Sea region, where we work together on a cross regional connectivity agenda.

So, what is up now? The coming year will be a moment of truth for all candidate countries, but especially for those who presented ambitious plans. High ambitions come with high expectations on reforms. The candidates need to step up efforts to deliver lasting reforms - not just ticking the boxes - that will enable a permanent transformation of their economies and societies to fully adjust to democratic standards and values. This needs to be underpinned by compliance with the rule of law and fundamental rights, and clear adherence to the EU's geopolitical orientation. This requires leadership that builds trust, embraces change and fosters consensus across society and promotes EU values.

At the same time, the EU is already taking steps to get ready for new members. We also have to get ready. The Commission is working on the pre-enlargement policy reviews and reforms which assess the impact of enlargement on key policy areas. Communication efforts in both Member States and enlargement countries, including fighting disinformation and manipulation of information, are being stepped up to discuss the benefits and challenges of enlargement with citizens. We expect that the closer we will get to the real enlargement, the stronger there will be outside forces who would like to see us fail.

To ensure that positive dynamics on the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights are maintained, the Commission considers the future accession treaties will need to contain stronger safeguards. Future enlargement can only be successful if we ensure the highest quality of reforms and that they become a reality on the ground. We put safeguards in place that reassure our citizens in the Member States that the integrity of our Union and democratic values are ensured, also after the accession.

Enlargement always has to make our Union stronger, and this success relies on readiness. So let us not shy away from having the necessary discussion on how we, the European Union, can make sure a larger Union will also be the stronger Union we need.

Thank you.

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