EP validates Commissioner-designate Marta Kos, who committed to put the EU enlargement process back on track

Marta Kos, the Slovenian Commissioner-designate for Enlargement, has secured a green light following her confirmation hearing in the European Parliament by the Committee on Foreign Affairs together with other three invited committees - AFCO, LIBE and DROI.

The Renew Europe Group congratulates Marta Kos, a politician and diplomat with a large experience, for her performance during the hearing and welcomed her commitment to seize the renewed momentum around enlargement by upholding the merit-based approach, ensuring that enlargement remains robust, credible, and grounded in clear progress. Closing chapters with Montenegro, opening remaining clusters with Albania, and opening the fundamentals cluster with North Macedonia, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova are amongst her priorities in the short term, highlighted also by our political group.

Another element set out by Marta Kos in her priorities is the gradual integration of enlargement partners into key sectors of the EU economy by using the new tools including the Ukraine Facility, the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, the Türkiye Investment Platform and, once adopted by the co-legislators, the future Growth Plan for the Republic of Moldova.

Renew Europe MEP, Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Bulgaria), Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs said:

“The enlargement process is all about trust. In order to overcome the deadlock on enlargement, Commissioner Kos will face difficult tasks - to find the way to bring the trust back of the candidate countries to do things differently and keep on the European path, and the even more challenging task to convince the Member States to trust the countries at the doorsteps of the Union.

This is a particularly sensitive moment, when we need more Europe in the Western Balkans to address the geopolitical challenges related to the growing influence from third countries, bring back mutual trust and walk the talk on enlargement. I am sure that with her vast experience and understanding of these dynamics, Marta Kos is the right person for the job.”