The Commission is in constant communication with the countries that are candidates for accession to the European Union regarding their alignment with sanctions against Russia, foreign policy spokesman[/B] Peter Stano said in response to a question from the Cyprus News Agency on Serbia and Turkey's alignment with the measures, during a noon press briefing in Brussels on Friday.
As he stressed, the alignment of the candidate countries with EU policies in general and in foreign policy in particular are constantly assessed in the process and each country knows very well where it stands and knows very well what we expect from them and when.
Mr. Stano also said that among the candidate countries, some were 100% aligned with the sanctions, naming countries in the Western Balkans, adding that some were partially aligned, such as Serbia, but without specifically mentioning Turkey's degree of compliance.
In particular, Stano said that after any decision concerning the EU's foreign and security policy, candidate countries, countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process, EEA countries and EU partners "have the opportunity or are asked to align with these sanctions." He noted that each country builds on this debate by making its own decisions.
He underlined that in March EU leaders "were very clear in their conclusions, where they called on all countries to align with our sanctions or to adopt similar national measures." He said this is an important issue as the aim is to limit Russia's ability to continue its war against Ukraine.
"So we expect all our like-minded partners, even more so the candidate countries, to align with these sanctions," he said, adding that they do so "to varying degrees."
"There are countries like Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, which are 100% aligned. There are countries that are only aligned with certain sanctions and decisions, like Serbia," he added.
"So far, more than 40 countries are either aligned with our sanctions or have introduced similar measures. Therefore, we expect the same from countries aspiring to join the EU and which claim to be based on the same principles and values as the European Union."
Asked to explain how the Commission promotes compliance of candidate countries on a practical level, Mr. Stano pointed out that it is a condition in the accession process that countries "gradually align themselves with EU legislation as a whole."
"This progress in individual areas, including foreign and security policy, is regularly assessed in the reports," he noted. "This is not an isolated event, because there are ongoing regular contacts, at different levels, with partners in the countries in the accession process, where work is taken forward, where assessments are made and where countries are informed about where they are lagging behind and where they need to make more efforts."
"Countries know very well where they stand and they know very well what we expect from them and when," he underlined."
Source: CNA
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