The nominee for the European Commissioner for Enlargement in the next European Commission, Marta Kos, could become the sixth person and first woman to hold this office. Since 2010, all Enlargement Commissioners have come from Central Europe but during that period only one new country joined the EU. Supporters of enlargement would certainly like to see this trend changed under Kos.
The portfolio of the European Commissioner for Enlargement was officially introduced 25 years ago, when the Commission was headed by an Italian Romano Prodi, and the first to resume such a role was a German Günter Verheugen. To date, the position which implies “providing a credible perspective for accession to the Union and supporting the implementation of reforms in candidate countries” has been held by four other men – Olli Rehn (Finland), Štefan Füle (Czech Republic), Johannes Hahn (Austria) and Olivér Várhelyi (Hungary).
Günter Verheugen: “Europe is safe only when it is united”
Günter Verheugen, a German Social Democrat, served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004. During his term of office, as many as 10 countries joined the EU (the so-called “Big Bang Enlargement) – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus. These countries became EU member states on 1 May 2004.
He strongly advocated the admission of new members to the EU, claiming that “history teaches us that Europe is a safe and prosperous place only when it is united”. Recalling the time when Verheugen was in charge of the EU enlargement, Erkki Bahovski, an Estonian journalist specializing in foreign policy, tells EWB that “he was honest with us – he did not give false promises, but he always tried to answer the questions from Eastern European journalists”.
“He knew perfectly well that he could not give any assurances or certain dates for enlargement, because it would be decided by member states. He was just a messenger. And, there was a strong political will across the EU to bring in the new members. The situation is different now, since the behaviour of Hungary has made some older member states very suspicious about the new enlargement”, Erkki Bahovski stresses
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Olli Rehn – EU accession of Romania and Bulgaria and visa liberalisation for three WB countries
Olli Rehn, a Finnish economist and politician, was in charge of the EU enlargement from November 2004 until February 2010, when the President of the European Commission was José Manuel Barroso from Portugal. Rehn was elected to office as a representative of the Liberals (ALDE). His mandate was marked by the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU (2007), and the granting of the EU candidate status to Croatia (2004), and to today’s North Macedonia (2005).
In addition, when Rehn was a Commissioner Serbia signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU in April 2008. The EU unblocked trade agreements with Serbia at the beginning of December 2009, and by the end of the month the EU granted visa-free travel to the citizens of Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia. Rehn also insisted that the Serbian authorities achieved full co-operation with The Hague Tribunal. Also, in 2007, he was one of the most ardent proponents of the Ahtisaari Plan for Kosovo.
In June 2023 it was reported that Rehn ran for President of Finland, but he ended the race in fourth place, after which he returned to the position of Governor of the country’s Central Bank.
Štefan Füle – term of office crowned by the EU membership of Croatia
A Czech politician and diplomat Štefan Füle succeeded Olli Rehn as the Commissioner for Enlargement at the end of 2010. He was elected to office as a candidate of the Party of European Socialists. During his term of office, Croatia became the EU member state (1 July 2013), Albania became a candidate for membership (June 2014), and Montenegro and Serbia began their respective accession negotiations. The accession negotiations with Montenegro were opened in June 2012, while the same process with Serbia began in January 2014.
In April 2013 Štefan Füle strongly supported the Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, calling it “historic” and stressing that “the European aspiration of Serbia and Kosovo is crucial in the desire to normalise relations”.
During his career, Füle was also the Special Envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and for the Western Balkans. In this capacity, he visited Belgrade in October 2016, when said that the Czech Republic strongly supported the accelerated accession of Serbia and other countries of the region to the EU.
Johannes Hahn: “The quality is more important than the speed of the EU accession”
An Austrian politician Johannes Hahn became the Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations on 1 November 2014, in the European Commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker. Hahn was elected as a candidate of the European People’s Party and was in charge of the portfolio until November 2019, when he became the EU Commissioner for Budget.
As early as the beginning of his term of office, Hahn stated that it was not realistic to expect any country to join the Union by the end of the decade, which turned out to be true, and that in the enlargement process, “quality is more important than speed”. Also, he often stressed the importance of regional stability.
In February 2018 the then EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Johannes Hahn presented a document entitled “A Credible enlargement perspective and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans”, which stated that Montenegro and Serbia “could potentially” be ready for the EU membership in 2025. It turned out that such a goal was too ambitious. In the summer of 2024, Johannes Hahn announced that he would retire from politics once the term of office of the current European Commission expired this autumn.
Olivér Várhelyi – more faithful to Viktor Orbán than to Brussels?
The current Commissioner for Enlargement is Olivér Várhelyi, a Hungarian lawyer and diplomat. Presenting his agenda in November 2019, Várhelyi said: “My vision is that in five years the Western Balkans will be more developed, that we have peace between Kosovo and Serbia, that Kosovo has full visa liberalisation, that the negotiations between North Macedonia and Albania are almost finished, and that Serbia is prepared for the EU accession. It is my dream”.
Várhelyi has also often stressed the importance of implementing reforms in the countries aspiring to the EU membership, including improving “prosperity”, quality of life and civil liberties. However, the experts for the EU have often pointed out that in his work he was much closer to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán than to the EU authorities in Brussels. During his term of office, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Moldova began the EU accession negotiations, while Georgia was granted candidate status.
In addition, in June 2024 Montenegro received a positive Interim Benchmark Assessment Report for Chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR), which was an important step towards its accession to the EU. On this occasion, Várhelyi said that “Europe is ready for enlargement”. If he gets the green light from the European Parliament, Oliver Várhelyi will be the Commissioner responsible for the health and animal welfare in the next European Commission.