BRUSSELS – The European Commission has once again postponed the publication of the Enlargement Package, i.e. the reports on the progress of the candidate countries and potential candidates for EU membership, this time for October, Radio Free Europe reports.
The negotiating frameworks for North Macedonia and Albania, which were recently given the green light to open negotiations, will be announced in June, as announced.
According to RFE, the reason for the delay is the COVID-19 pandemic and insufficient human resources to work on this comprehensive document, which includes an analysis of the entire enlargement process as well as reports for each country individually.
Earlier, it was announced that the reports would most likely be published in June, and the Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi stated this several times recently.
Last year’s Package was released in late May, following the European Parliament elections. Since 2018, it has been planned for the reports to be published in April, but this is the second year in which, due to external circumstances, the deadline is postponed.
If published in October, the reports will almost certainly include the June elections in Serbia, and probably election in North Macedonia and Montenegro, if they are held before that month.