The European Commission made a decision to present the benefits of membership to the candidate countries by 2027, which is the so-called gradual integration, which means that potential members can enjoy the benefits even before their admission to the European Union, said the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi.
In his speech published on the “X” social network, Varhelyi stated that it is a new element and novelty called “Growth Plan” which is an addition to the Economic and Investment Plan.
“We noticed that the needs for investments are much greater than what the Economic and Investment Plan offers. We made the decision to start a new phase, and that is the way to speed up the integration of the Balkans,” he emphasized.
According to him, for the enlargement and the European process, the important process is not the unification of the continent, the full integration of the new members into the economic and social fabric and thus into progress, stability and security.
“When re-imagining the expansion, I think it is very important to start from the basics because there was too much discussion about the process. And that prevented us from looking at another very important part of the expansion, which is real integration,” added Varhelyi, Srna news agency writes.