Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2006 - 2007

process. The Commission also welcomes the entry into force in 2006 of the Energy
Community Treaty and the Agreement on a European Common Aviation Area.
The EU will promote people-to-people contacts, both by making available more scholarships
to students and researchers and by simplifying visa procedures. Croatian citizens are exempt
from short-term visa requirements. The Commission has proposed that the Council authorises
the Commission to negotiate visa facilitation agreements with the other countries of the
region, with a view to concluding these agreements in 2007. The proposal covers also
readmission, except for Albania with which the EU already signed a readmission agreement.
Furthermore, the EU will continue to provide assistance in key areas such as energy,
transport, and economic co-operation.
The countries of South-East Europe launched in April 2006 negotiations for a regional free
trade agreement and have set themselves the objective of concluding the agreement by the end
of 2006. The Commission and the Stability Pact fully support this process 4 . The EU will soon
introduce diagonal cumulation of rules of origin in its agreements with Croatia and the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and later to further countries. This will stimulate regional
trade and investment. Albania, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are
already members of the WTO. The efforts that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and
Serbia will have to make in the near future to join the WTO will also help them in deepening
their regional trade ties, achieving economic reforms, and implementing future Stabilisation
and Association Agreements.
4. ENSURING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR ENLARGEMENT
The enlargement agenda provides the Union with the ways and means to address many of the
challenges outlined above. The prospect of EU accession offered to the countries of the
Western Balkans and to Turkey is an important catalyst for reform in these countries. There
are clear benefits on the whole for the EU in terms of growth, stability and security. However,
these need to be better communicated to the public. It is essential to listen to citizens, address
their concerns, and provide factual information. The Member States must take the lead, with
the support of the European Parliament and the Commission. The Member States, with the
support of regional and local authorities and civil society bodies who are closest to the public,
need to communicate the benefits that this policy of enlargement has brought to citizens of the
enlarged EU.
In ensuring public support for enlargement, it is necessary to increase mutual understanding.
To this end, the Commission launched in 2005 a civil society dialogue between the EU and
the candidate and potential candidate countries. This programme aims at promoting
interaction between non-governmental organisations, e.g. student exchange, study visits of
journalists, as well as exchange between women’s organisation, trade unions and business
communities.
The Commission will take the following measures:
4 The Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe is a regional policy framework set up by the international
community in June 1999, in order to support the countries' efforts to foster peace, democracy, respect
for human rights and economic prosperity, and to achieve stability in the region as a a whole. It is
currently being transformed into a more regionally owned co-operation process.
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