Parliaments and cross‑party dialogue essential for EU accession, EU official says

Parliaments must be at the centre of EU accession talks and cross-party dialogue inside legislatures is essential for any country aiming for full membership, an EU official told a two-day conference in Skopje devoted to regional cooperation and parliamentary oversight of the accession process. ([sog.luiss.it](https://sog.luiss.it/faculty/giulio-venneri?utm_source=openai))

Giulio Veneri, Deputy Head of Unit for Enlargement Strategy and Coordination at the Directorate‑General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST) of the European Commission, warned that the revised EU accession methodology is not a mere bureaucratic exercise but a strategic choice that raises the bar for democratic quality, accountability and effective, transparent institutions. He argued that parliaments will need to foster inter‑party dialogue as reforms begin to move in concrete directions. "The work of parliaments requires, when the reform agenda begins to move in certain directions as we see – it requires cross‑party dialogue and this is what represents the transformative power of the alignment process. A project that goes beyond the political parties, we are not naive, we know how certain political positions remain relevant," he said. ([enlargement.ec.europa.eu](https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-directorate-general-focus-enlargement-and-eastern-neighbourhood-2025-02-03_en?utm_source=openai))

Berlin's push and the national debate

Representatives of Germany underlined the same point from the diplomatic side. Jan‑Axel Voss, Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy, recalled Berlin's calls in recent months for a more dynamic enlargement approach in Brussels and reiterated that parliaments, not only governments, play a decisive role by aligning national laws with European legislation. "We have a shared interest which is the enlargement of the European Union. This is evidently true for my government which since May has been pressing in Brussels for a more dynamic enlargement process. Parliament has an important role — an irreplaceable role, not only formal but political," he said. ([portal.mdt.gov.mk](https://portal.mdt.gov.mk/post-body-files/direktorat-za-diplomatski-protokol-file-eRXX.pdf?utm_source=openai))

Bekim Sali, Minister for European Affairs, urged that European integration remain a common national goal that rises above party politics. He said political differences can be transformed into national consensus, and warned that speed should not come at the expense of quality. "European integration must remain a jointly shared goal that will rise above party interests. A broad consensus is one that a candidate country can send to its citizens and to the EU," he said. ([mep.gov.mk](https://mep.gov.mk/en-GB/ministerstvo/minister?utm_source=openai))

Antonio Milososki, chair of the parliamentary Committee on European Affairs, welcomed a recent Franco‑German non‑paper and expressed optimism that member states could reach consensus by the end of the year, while stressing that what follows must be a clear plan and concrete guidance to meet accession conditions. "It is even harder to influence and achieve consensus among EU member states on whether enlargement is a priority or not," he said, noting that harmonising domestic law with EU acquis is only the first step and implementation will be the greater challenge. ([sobranie.mk](https://www.sobranie.mk/antonijo-milososki.nspx?utm_source=openai))

Speakers at the conference repeatedly returned to the same formula: alignment with EU law requires parliamentary ownership, transparent institutions and the political willingness to build broad coalitions at home — prerequisites, they argued, for credible and sustainable accession.

Photo: press material from the event