Cautious EU welcome for Macedonia

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Cautious EU welcome for Macedonia

Bv Oana Lungescu
BBC News, Brussels


Macedonia has been forging closer ties with the EU

The European Commission is to take a new step towards embracing the Balkans, by recommending granting Macedonia European Union candidate status.
Macedonia will be the third ex-Yugoslav republic to gain candidate status. Slovenia joined the EU last year and Croatia began talks last month.
The Commission will also issue detailed progress reports on all the other Balkan countries, as well as Turkey.
But the EU is expected to take its time before admitting new members.
Politically, Macedonia is an incredibly positive story, an EU official said, but it still has a long way to go in terms of the economy and the public administration.
Weak and divided
The country stepped back from the brink of civil war in 2001, after the EU and Nato helped broker an agreement between ethnic Albanian rebels and the majority Slav population.

So, while backing Macedonia as a candidate, the European Commission will not recommend the start of accession talks.
Instead, it will leave the decision up to a summit of EU leaders in December.
The Commission reports, due for release on Wednesday, describe the Balkans as a particular challenge for the EU, a region where states are weak and societies divided.
All of them have been promised eventual EU membership, but the Commission makes clear they can only join once they have met the criteria in full.
It also admits that any further expansion will have to be better explained to the people of Europe.
Turkey challenged
Accession talks with Turkey, which began last month, are described as a long-term process.
The Commission will grant Ankara the coveted status of a functioning market economy.
But it also warns that the pace of change has slowed down this year and sets Turkey almost 150 things to do in the next two years if it wants to keep membership talks on track.
The long list includes implementing a policy of zero tolerance against torture, strengthening the fight against corruption, and limiting the political influence of the armed forces.
Turkey must also improve freedom of expression, women's rights and grant more religious freedom and more cultural rights to the Kurdish community.

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