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Slovakia stresses credibility of EU enlargement process

Xinhua, July 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

One of Slovakia's priorities during its presidency over the Council of the EU is the credibility of the EU enlargement process, Slovak official Ivan Korcok said on Sunday.

The words of Korcok, government plenipotentiary for the Slovak Presidency of the EU Council, came after the talks on the process and policy of enlargement in Bratislava on Sunday.

"We want it to be clear to candidate countries what they are supposed to do within the accession process and, on the other hand, we want to speak to member states and tell them that if candidates take particular steps. Headway towards the European Union must be noticeable at the end of our presidency," stressed Korcok, adding that the enlargement policy is one of the priorities of Slovakia's presidency.

"Therefore, we wanted to provoke a discussion like this at the very beginning in order to learn how candidate countries view the upcoming period," he explained, following his talks with representatives of Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Turkey.

Korcok reiterated that Turkey remains an important partner for the EU even with its current turbulent domestic political situation.

"We have an action plan for Turkey. Legitimate institutions have our support, and at the same time we're monitoring all the steps that are being taken by Turkey," stated Korcok.

Following Sunday's talks on EU enlargement, Monday's discussions will be aimed at making communication on the strategic priorities of the EU that were defined by the European Council in June 2014.

The discussion will also touch on the problem of improving communications with citizens on European issues. Endit