Speaking on behalf of the ECR Group during the CoR's March plenary session, Cllr David Simmonds (Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Hillingdon) called on EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn to create procedures which would prevent individual new Member States from obstructing EU membership talks.

"My Group would like to see a clause included in the agreement with Western Balkan countries in order to ensure that new Member States will not be in a position to veto the accession of other candidates willing to join the EU if they fulfil all conditions for entry", said Cllr Simmonds. Since all 28 EU governments must agree to the opening and closing of new chapters in negotiations with prospective members, that effectively gives Croatia a veto over Serbia's membership, for instance.

Cllr Simmonds also underlined to the EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement negotiations that the EU should be solving regional problems before opening its doors to new countries. "For example, this could apply to the legally-binding normalisation agreement that is needed between Serbia and Kosovo. Such a legally binding agreement should be a precondition for the two countries to join the EU".

In February this year, the European Commission adopted a strategy for "a credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans". The strategy clearly spells out that the EU is open to further accessions only if individual countries fulfil stringent EU criteria. It also offers some hope to Serbia and Montenegro, which could "potentially" be ready to join the EU by 2025.

The ECR Group in the European Committee of the Regions has welcomed the strategy and the commitment shown by the Bulgarian Presidency to providing Balkan countries with a credible enlargement perspective.