German Lawmaker Says EU Should Not Hurry With Enlargement, Focus On Migration Instead

Umer Jamshaid Published October 17, 2019 | 11:00 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2019) The European Union should not hurry with its enlargement to Albania and North Macedonia, and better focus on more acute problems, like finance and migration, Siegbert Droese, member of the German parliament from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Sputnik on Thursday.

EU leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday and are expected to discuss the thorny issue of opening accession talks with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia.

"The AfD is the only party in the Bundestag [the German Federal parliament], warning of a hasty and counterproductive start to negotiations. We have seen the result with Turkey. The EU cannot make use of new problem members, as long as the current existential problems in finance and migration are not even approached. The AfD is in favor of a privileged partnership with the Western Balkans, not an enlargement," Droese said.

Many senior EU politicians share this view, he noted.

"[French] President [Emmanuel] Macron is right when he first demands consolidation of the EU before new members can be admitted.

Dutch Foreign Minister [Stef] Blok stated that Albania is not ready to join Europe and that North Macedonia does not have an independent prosecutor," the lawmaker recalled, adding that Spain and Denmark have also voiced similar reservations, especially about Albania.

Only German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Minister of State Michael Roth, both members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), clearly support the beginning of the negotiations, Droese noted.

Despite the crises that have happened in recent years, the European Union is still dead set on expanding its roster of members. Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova signed Association Agreements with the European Union in 2014, and Turkey, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia are candidate states. Other countries, like Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, while not EU members, still participate in the Common Market and Schengen Area.