 Good evening dear colleagues, let us resume our plenary and we are going to have now our debate on enlargement package and European neighborhood policy. We have with us an integrated honour, Commissioner Oliver Vareli, Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, dear Commissioner Vareli, I would like to welcome you to the European Committee of the Regents, mayors and regional leaders all across Europe share best practices in implementing European policies and it helps regional and local authorities to improve their obligations as service providers and enable transparency and good governance to prosper. This is true within the EU and beyond its external borders. By joining forces with the EU's local authorities, our partners from neighboring countries can speed up reform, improve governance and promote decentralization and transparency. Our committee also promotes digitalization and the green transition and we work to enhance the resilience of communities such as cross-border solidarity during the health crisis. Greater and territorial cooperation tools are used to promote peer-learning and foster confidence-building strategies. Citizen regions work together to localize the sustainable development goals and broaden the governance of mayors to fight climate change with a view to anchoring our neighboring countries to the Union. Regents is multilateral but also multilevel. Regents and cities can help the EU to make a success of capacity-building initiatives from the bottom up. The first European grouping of territorial cooperation was created across between Ukraine and Hungary and we have also supported the newly established HOMADAS in Ukraine working with EU-LEAD and creating peer-learning arrangements focusing on decentralization. With the same commitment, we stand ready today to foster integrity in Ukraine and look forward to the enlargement of the Integrity City program. We believe in the added value of multilateralism and we have delivered on this in both the Eastern Partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean, Core Lib, recently proposed setting up an academy for public administration open to sub-national level and I really encourage the Commission to support this proposal at the next summit. Same time, we continue to promote the Mayors for Economic Change project and stand ready to work with the civil society and municipalities of Belarus to help its people through positive reform. We welcome the BRIC program for territorial development in Belarus and continue to offer the Commission our support to get the peer-learning process started whenever possible. We also support the Barcelona process and we bring a territorial dimension to it through Arlem. We have set up a network of European and Libyan mayors able to catalyze change from continuous learning to fisheries, from water to waste management. In the last four years, we have helped establish internal dialogue in Libya, elaborated funds for sustainable development, creating solid partnership with European peers. This has enabled the mayors of Tripoli and Benghazi, together with the elected officials of Friuli, Venezia, Julia and Galicia to learn how to develop the fishing industry for trading with Europe. Enhancing local democracy and territorial development is essential prior to any enlargement and we want to stress that out. Together with the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, we fought for the holding of municipal elections in Mosta, restoring local democracy after a decade. We continue to work with local authorities from all the area to help them reform public administration, fight corruption and move closer to the union standards and legislation. Finally, we argue the case for international law prevailing over acts of provocation in the Mediterranean. When it comes to Turkey and the Mediterranean, I would hope that many of the country's mayors can still work to foster good relations with the EU and fight for fundamental freedoms and for change within the country. I would like to bring to your attention concerns expressed by the mayor in exile of Fama Augusta who calls for the union to defend European interests in Cyprus and it's not only Cyprus, it's the whole of the Mediterranean. And let us not forget, Commissioner, that the borders of these countries are the borders of the European Union and we need to protect them. So dear Commissioner, again thank you very much for joining us today, it's a great honour and privilege, the floor is now yours. Thank you very much President, thank you very much for providing me this opportunity to talk to you and to engage directly with you, this is very much appreciated and it's been long overdue I think, however this completely exceptional year unfortunately prevented us from having a direct exchange so far but I try to make the most out of it this time. So first of all I do welcome the very strong interest that this committee is showing in our policy fields, enlargement enabled. Communicating on the strategic importance of these issues in your dialogue with the local and regional authorities is key, it is these authorities which are the closest maybe to citizens and they provide many services that benefit the local community directly. For instance the municipal infrastructure, wastewater treatment, education or support to the SMEs, I think these are the key issues that touches the lives of people the most. Therefore we are engaging with them as well given their very significant role with regard to implementing EU support programmes and to include citizens in the EU related issues. As you know the Western Balkans is a priority from the first day in office for this Commission but not only it is a priority for this Commission but it is a priority for all of us including the leaders grouped in the European Council the last time in May this year. From day one we have been working therefore in support of the region along three very important tracks. First we had to reinforce the renewed and renew the enlargement process through a revised methodology to make the policy more credible, more effective and more predictable not only for the region but also for our member states. Second on this basis we have been able to achieve the decision to open negotiations, accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia in March and lastly we are strongly focusing now on the spinning up of the economic convergence of the region with the EU and supporting its recovery efforts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have adopted a major economic and investment plan for the whole region as you know and this plan aims at providing up to 9 billion euros in funding in the form of grants complemented by the new Western Balkans guarantee facility which could raise and should raise at least 20 billion euros of funding. These investment package is structured around flagship projects in key areas such as transport, energy, the private sector and human capital development and we believe that these projects have the potential to transform the region in the next four to five years and should bring the Western Balkans much closer to the EU than today. Just to illustrate the size of this operation what I can already share with you is that we are mobilizing around one third of the whole of the GDP of the entire region and we hope that this package is capable of raising the economic output of the region by at least 3.6 percent and this package should address the major economic deficiencies that prevent the region from catching up but also should bring about change that will create a credible European path for not only these countries but also the people in these regions because we hope that through this plan we can bring connections, railway connections, highway connections between all the capitals of the region. We do hope that we will be able to build high-speed broadband internet core networks between these countries and with Europe. We believe that we can change the landscape when it comes to the energy sector of these countries by helping them to phase out core. These could bring major changes not only to the economies but the people of these countries. I also believe that our European regions can play a very important role in helping the Western Balkans to implement the plan. For example by sharing experience, one experience like the experience of coal and carbon-intensive regions in transition in Europe because as I said phasing out coal is one of the key elements of this plan and so is connectivity with us. The Western Balkans and Ukraine will also benefit from regional specific support to boost innovation capacity, remove investment barriers and equip workers with the right skills to prepare for economic transformation. This is why we're currently supporting a pilot action for regions in industrial transition. Knowledge transfer between the EU and the Western Balkans is already taking place in the context of the Covenant of Mayors. A number of Western Balkan cities are already associated to this initiative and more should be encouraged to join. In 2018 upon your call we launched a pilot in three Western Balkan countries, Albania, Bosnia, Zagogina and Serbia through the so-called TAEX strategic support to local authorities. We supported and developed capacities in such key areas as administrative and management capacity, strategic planning, state aid, public procurement and wastewater management. Based on the successes of the pilot we are currently reflecting on how to provide support to selected local authorities in all Western Balkan countries. We hope to be able to test this approach in other regions as well starting possibly with selected countries in the eastern neighborhood. I welcome your continued interest in this matter and your support to peer learning activities with local authorities. Our neighborhood is of strategic importance to the EU as I said. Therefore, we need to maintain a privileged relationship with all neighbors and continue to support their stability and foster prosperity. Never before was this more important than now when we are all facing the same crisis which is a double crisis, a health one and an economic one. This for that reason that we have reached out from the very beginning of the crisis to synchronize our efforts in overcoming the health crisis and now the economic one. Let me thank you and the conference of the regional and local authorities for the Eastern Partnership, for the excellent cooperation in strengthening the local dimension of the Eastern Partnership and in particular for a valuable contribution to the future post 2020 framework. Building capacity at local level is particularly important for providing better services to citizens and businesses as well as increasing understanding and visibility of the benefits of the Eastern Partnership policy. Through regional initiatives, we already activate outside the capitals our Eastern partners. Let me provide a couple of examples. Through mayors of economic growth, the EU supports mayors and municipalities to design and implement local economic development plans to stimulate economic activity and support local businesses. The Covenant of Mayors which is the EU's most trademark initiative for local and energy climate action has grown into a network of 400 municipalities covering around 40 percent of the population of the six partner countries. We're working in all these municipalities supporting sustainable energy plans and implementing key projects such as on-street lightning and energy efficiency. I welcome the idea of setting up an Eastern Partnership Academy for public administration as well. We're happy to see interest from some of our Eastern partners and EU member states in direct exchange of experience. Based on the experience of the regional school for public administration in the Western Balkans and member states initiatives, we are now developing a proposal on the Eastern Partnership Academy which we hope that we can present as early as next year. As we move forward with the preparing of the post 2020 Eastern Partnership agenda, we hope to continue our fruitful cooperation in the future and rely on your broad pool of expertise. Myself and my team will be happy to hear you about your ideas on engagement at local and regional level. Turning to the southern neighborhood, recently we have took the opportunity at the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona process to officially kick off our reflections and consultation process for a more strategic and ambitious partnership with that region. The consultation process will conclude in the first half of 2021 with the adoption by the College of a joint proposal for a renewed partnership. The focus will be on economic development, trade and investment. The consultation process is now ongoing with member states, partner countries and the like. The Commission recognizes the important role of the Union for the Mediterranean and the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly for stronger and strategic engagement with partner governments and local authorities to create a more inclusive and sustainable Euro-Mediterranean partnership. I encourage you and the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly to further develop your cooperation with the Union for the Mediterranean to stimulate local businesses, support youth, young entrepreneurs and encourage collaboration between local authorities and the private sector. I also welcome your partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean in the Arlem Award 2021 which helps showcase young innovative entrepreneurs working in cooperation with the local authorities for the local communities. The Commission is supporting local authorities through various climate-related projects, most notably Klimament, which engages directly with the municipalities and helps them in designing and funding energy and climate investment plans. Our project also serves as a local office for the Covenant of Mayors. Last but not least, let me use this opportunity to thank you for your long-standing cooperation with my services on the Nicosia initiative in Libya. Following recent positive developments in the political process, Libya is now at a turning point. It is important to continue working with the local authorities to help improve their public service delivery capacities and foster stabilization in the country. The Commission is committed to further support the initiative. With this, I do thank you for your attention and I'm of course not happy to answer any comments or questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you very much. Let me give the floor now to Nikola Dubroslavic from the EPP for four minutes. Thank you President, dear Commissioner Varholi, dear colleagues. The communication on the EU enlargement package 2020 and economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans are confirmation of the continued engagement of the EU institutions in the Western Balkan countries and reaffirms Commission's position that enlargement is in the political, economic, and security interests of the EU. The communication is an accurate analysis of the situation in the Western Balkans. We noticed though that local and regional level is not represented enough in the document. Economic and investment plan for the Western Balkans with the EU help for investments of 9 billion euro is most welcome and can also foster the accession process. The Committee of the Regents is designing an opinion on the Commission's documents. The adoption of the opinion is scheduled for the plenary in March next year. The opinion will express the stance of the Committee of the Regents on those documents. It will focus on the position of local and regional authorities in the enlargement countries on their role in the accession process and on the overall functioning of local democracy in those countries. The opinion will reinforce previous stance of the Committee of the Regents, especially the position that all the Western Balkan countries should become EU members. Their accession would be good for those countries, but also for the EU. But these countries must fulfill all the criteria for membership in the EU. Turkey must first of all convince the EU that it is willing to accept all EU standards and to share European values. The opinion will advocate strengthening of the position and of the role of local and regional authorities in the enlargement countries. It will address deficiencies in the functioning of local democracy, especially the phenomenon of the state capture, shortcomings in the rule of law, in media freedom, respect of minority rights, fight against corruption and so on. The Committee of the Regents has with local and regional authorities from enlargement countries cooperation and dialogue through its joint consultative committees and its working groups. That is a good reason to have this Committee of the Regents involved in the negotiation processes. EU's commitment to the enlargement process towards Western Balkan countries is an opportunity for these countries. The economic and investment plan as well. But political will and determination by the partner countries remain key to success. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr Dubrovslavich. The floor now on behalf of the PEH group to Yaroslav Klimka. She's also the rapporteur for four minutes, please. Okay, let's move to our next speaker. On behalf of the Renew Europe Group, Yasna Gavrits for three minutes. Thank you very much, Mr Chair. Dear Commissioner, Mr Varhele, I would like to warmly welcome you on behalf of the Renew Europe Group. We liberals are strong believers in EU enlargement to the Western Balkans. I'm the co-chair of the joint consultative committee. CORE has set up with local authorities in North Macedonia. I'm now sadly looking to the Western Balkans and seeing how yet another member state is delaying the start of negotiations with North Macedonia. The country took a bold step with the hard decision of changing the name of the country. Now the country is facing another hurdle. I'm concerned about the position of Bulgaria blocking the opening of negotiations with North Macedonia, something that already had been agreed in the council conclusions in March. This is even more surprising from a country that was emphasizing a European perspective of the Western Balkans during its presidency in 2018. Indeed, Mrs Pavlova, minister responsible for Bulgaria's EU presidency, stated in 2018 and I'm quoting, the peace, the calm, the stability and the future of Europe passed through the Western Balkans. The European project will not be complete without them. The end of quote. By not opening the accession negotiations as foreseen by the end of this year, Europe is taking a big risk. This might lead to national sentiment again to reach the surface in North Macedonia as well as in Bulgaria. We also risk making North Macedonia lose patience with the EU. We know too well that other foreign powers are interested in the region and if the EU is not there for them, others will be. EU must therefore reasset its leadership in the region and must urgently show to the people of the Western Balkans that the EU is there for them. As chair of the joint consultative committee core North Macedonia, I will now look into what we can do more to be part of this process. I would personally like us to launch peer-to-peer exercises. This has proven very useful in our cooperation with Ukrainian local authorities. In that case, the European Commission has supported the endeavor financially. I would therefore like to ask you if you believe the European Commission could play a role also here in assisting us in building up peer-to-peer exercises with our counterparts in North Macedonia. My own municipality, Terbolia in Slovenia, has had a very good experience with our sister city Valandova in North Macedonia. We started an Erasmus for young people which has proven very successful. We are looking for good practices on both sides to share with each other. I believe it would be beneficial to put in place more projects and peer-to-peer exercises between cities in the EU and cities in the Western Balkans with support of the EU. I would be happy to lead this process when it comes to exchanges between municipalities in the EU and North Macedonia through the Joint Consultative Committee for North Macedonia. Thank you, commissioners, and thank you all. I would like to highlight at least four activities. First, we should create a program for exchange of experience between local and regional authorities, when it comes to the use of European assistance, when it comes to issues related to the functioning of democratic devices. Secondly, we should create an initiative for old-fashioned programs for workers of the device, which is a tool for students, for young people, so that they can prepare frames for the exchange of democratic devices and also for the construction of the European society. I think that the commission could create a special fund for older people who would be able to use the European Union as a tool for the development of these devices. Thirdly, I would like to appeal the support of the European Commission for the development of the Eastern European Union with the University of the School of Public Administration in one of the countries of the Eastern partnership. Of course, it would also be possible to prepare frames for democracy. For democracy, it would be possible. Fourthly, I would like to develop and strengthen the trans-border programs. My warriors participate in the Transmissions Program of the Polish Belarus of Ukraine. Since the 16th anniversary of the success of this program, we are impressed. And I write 400 projects and then over 400 million euros. These are such moderate values, but their effect is many, many non-minimum values. Of course, the social, personal, and I think they are also one of the lower elements of these programs. So thank you for your attention. Please, Mr. Komsomol, thank you for these mentioned four things. I think that everyone would like to have a Belarus-Ukrainian presence. Thank you very much. On behalf of the EA group, Mr. Yosef Kobor for two minutes. They are commissioners, they are colleagues. We are 25 years after the Dayton-based agreement which ended the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And 21 years after the end of the last Yugoslavia war and 17 years after the Thessaloniki summit, which stated that the future of the region is in the EU. We speak about six western Balkan countries. Two countries have not been recognized as EU candidates and there is very little hope they will be recently. Two countries are halted in the council because of bilateral problems and other political reasons. And only two have started the long negotiation processes. Out of those, Serbia did not open a single chapter in the 2020, while Montenegro opened only one. In that context, we local and regional authorities have a very important role to play in building and maintaining bridges with our peers and neighbors. And that also means actively involving them in the conference on the future of Europe and the implementation of the EU's green agenda. We can do that through committee of the region's working groups and joint consultative committees, but also through initiatives for which we need your support, Mr. Commissioner. Such as peer and to peer cooperation programs and a new programming period is starting now. And I would like to point out a very useful study commissioned by our CIVES commission, which we are present in a structured and concise way various EU funding opportunities for local and regional authorities in western Balkan. We can share our experiences in implementing EU policies, applying and implementing EU funding, project, etc. Mr. Commissioner, we are both Hungarians. Some of our regions, like my city of Peach and your city of Seger, have deep historical and cultural connections for regions that are currently outside of the EU. Thank you very much from the Greens, Urus, Brezan, for two minutes. Thank you, President, their commissioner, their colleagues. It is in our great interest that Union's neighborhood is safe, peaceful and prosperous. And to achieve that, we should engage all our disposable means. That is why we welcome the commission's proposal for an economic and investment plan for the western Balkans, containing 9 billion euros in grants and an addition of 20 billion of guaranteed loans. We urge the commission that these funds remain closely connected to the implementation of the Green agenda for western Balkans, with which EU would synchronize and stretch its Green Deal policy to our closest neighborhood, ensuring a path towards climate neutrality by 2050 is not only an urgent challenge, but also an inviting opportunity to build a better future for all. We strongly hope such a cooperation will also strengthen pro-EU forces in candidate countries and those in the countries on the way to the status, to take the necessary steps forward in forcing their local democracies, rule of law and good governance, and on the other hand, avoiding the danger of state capture. The Greens would like to underline that, especially for the western Balkans, the awareness of tragic legacy of previous armed conflicts, unresolved disputes over sovereignty and territory is crucial, as well as is the willingness to tackle those problems. We are convinced that the approaches of alternative dispute resolution with the help of EU are the only possible way to a fruitful future cooperation within the region and also EU integration. Thank you from Socha Valley, Julian Alps, Slovenia. Thank you very much. Is Jaroslav Hlinka now on behalf of the PES Group available? Thank you very much. Let me start with a clear message. Our enlargement partners need a real and trustworthy perspective for EU membership. We cannot expect from them to make progress on different reforms. And once they have done so, EU member states still block the beginning of negotiations. North Macedonia is a good example for this. They have delivered what we have asked for and EU membership talks should have already started. However, the beginning of these talks is blocked and the Intergovernmental Conference cannot start as planned before the end of the year. To avoid any misunderstandings, I know, of course, that North Macedonia, like the other enlargement countries, has a long way to go until EU membership. Nevertheless, the way some of the EU member states are using the enlargement process to reach their own individual goals reminds me of the story of the donkey and the carrot on the stick. The donkey, in this case, the enlargement countries, have a carrot on a stick. In this case, the goal of EU membership, hanging in front of their nose. They keep running towards the carrot, but it never comes closer. Although I am not a member of the working group with Turkey, I know that the COA in the effort to maintain an open dialogue with our Turkish local and regional country parts held its annual meeting in Edirne one year ago. Edirne is located in that Greek-Turkish land border where Erdogan decided to maintain pressure on Western countries over the Syrian conflict by encouraging refugees on its soil to go to Europe. Turkey remains a key partner for the EU, but has to clarify if they still want to join the EU. The enlargement package 2020 presents an honest analysis of the progress made, but it really misses more information on the state of play, on the local level. We as European politicians from the local and regional level know best that the situation on the national level does not represent the situation on the local and regional level. So for our work, it would be very useful to receive this additional input from the EU enlargement package in the future. To conclude, the Western Balkan countries and Turkey want to join the EU or are negotiating already to do so. Please use your power as EU commissioner for enlargement to plea to EU member states to send positive political signals to these countries. If we want to stabilize the European Union and its neighborhood and present those countries an honest option of a European future, EU member states need to stick to their commitments, agree to the negotiation framework for Albania and North Macedonia. Thank you very much for your attention to the commissioner for his first reaction, Oliver Vareli, commissioner. Thank you very much. I think most of what we heard were comments, but let's start with the very important remark that the EU chairman made when it comes to our relations with Turkey. Yes, we see a major decline in our relations, although I'm convinced that we have to always keep in mind the long-term relations that we want to have with Turkey, because we are neighbors with Turkey, we are NATO allies with Turkey and Turkey is a very important partner. Unfortunately, Turkey has not been respecting our member states, Turkey has been violating the sovereignty of some of our member states and we will always be united and we will always be helping our member states and we will stand by them. And I think that this is what Turkey will need to understand, if not today then maybe after tomorrow when the leaders in the European Council will discuss this issue and we will see very clear messages emerging from there and of course the commission will be ready and willing to implement the outcome of tomorrow's discussions at leaders level. Now, coming to the first question I got from Mrs. Gabrić, the peer-to-peer exercise in North Macedonia, I think we're more than open to consider this idea and I will instruct my colleagues to take quick contact with your office so that we can see what you have in mind exactly and that we can start to put this into operation. Now, to Mr. Ortil on Belarussia, yes, I fully agree with you. We are in a very difficult period now, but we are convinced that the people of Belarussia deserve our support and we will continue to support them. This is why we have been redeploying as much funding as possible directly to the people of Belarussia. This is something that we are working on and you might expect clear decisions coming from the Commission these days in redeploying 25 million euros directly to the civil society. We are also working on a plan, as some of you was quoting this old Greek tale about the donkey and the carrot. We are also preparing a carrot because we are hopeful that Belarussia will go through a democratic change and in the end we will be able to support even more and deepen our relations with the Belarussia that is changed, that is transformed into a democracy. And this is for that reason that we are also preparing a positive package for the new Belarussia that is yet to come. To Mr. Kubor, he gave a gloomy picture of the Balkans, something that I also share, but it is because of this gloomy picture that we need to double our efforts and this is what we have been doing this year. And I share the frustration of all of you about the fact that we have not been able to follow up the major political breakthrough we have achieved this March in opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania and that we have not been able to translate this into action on the ground but we work very hard to make it happen as quickly as possible. I understand that there is a bilateral issue that prevented us from doing that but we are reaching out to both parties to be able to overcome this with sensible pragmatic solutions. I am confident that we can achieve this but this also requires both sides to show more flexibility and show more pragmatism. And therefore we need to continue to engage. I am very sure that we have a solution that should be acceptable for both. And we should not lose time by engaging in debates that are leading us nowhere. We should show on the EU side our commitment to our previous decisions and this is why I count on the area coming around in the end. And then to Mr Brezan, our economic and investment plan contains all the green elements and a very clear link with the green deal that the commission has put on the table for the EU member states. If you look at the plan you will see the very strong focus of green investments throughout the Balkans. And I must also share with you that these priorities have not been set by us and this is very important. We are not setting priorities the Western Balkans have never asked for. On the contrary these priorities have been worked out together with them. It also shows true commitment, ownership and commitment on their side. When you look at the latest decision they have adopted in Sofia last month and their Berlin process summit where they have committed to a green deal for the Western Balkans leading to our climate goals as well. Now to Mr Linka finally, yes I fully agree with you. We need to be credible in delivering that when there is delivery on the conditions we should also be delivering on our side. And this is part of the new methodology that you have seen emerging and now it is high time to implement that new methodology. Thank you Commissioner. Let's move on with our dear members who want to take the floor and I give the floor now to Franz Sausberger for one minute. Yes, Mr Commissioner, thank you very much for your information on the expansion, especially in the Western Balkans. And I would like to make a few short remarks. First of all, I would very much like to see that despite your personal commitment and commitment to the entire commission, the expansion that has been in the background in the last time, in my opinion, is now more in the center of your entire policy. Second of all, in the overall planned discussion about the future of Europe, the expansion countries of the Western Balkans must at least be able to participate as active observers. Because I am convinced that the EU must also recognize the opinion of those who are on the way to the EU. The third, and I have already talked about this today, I would like to ask you, especially those of the EU, or those of the EU, who with completely un-European arguments block the recordings of negotiations with North Macedonia, to convince them that this country is damaging the whole of Europe. It is not about the progress, it is about the recording of negotiations of a country that already has the candidate status since 2005. And I fear that the whole thing is a certain danger for peace in the whole region. And the last point, I would like to ask you to move on. For one minute. Mr. Roberto Ciambetti, please, for one minute. In the month of November, we managed to have our first meeting in virtual form. As Leven Sabra, Montenegro, recently lived, in the elections at all levels of governance, last week a new government finally sat down. Also for this reason, for us, which is even more important at the moment, to raise the numbers in our paper. As a consultative committee, we gave the mission to explore as much energy as possible between the two slopes of the Adriatic Sea, on how to find common solutions for economic repartition. My land, Veneto and Montenegro, have a lot in common from a historical and economic point of view. And for this, it is natural to be able to cooperate even in these difficult times. Commissioner, would you allow me to present the pressing need that our partners bring to each other? Thank you. I would like to give the best to the local people. Thank you again. Thank you. The word now to Mr. Christoph, okay. Then Anna Maguiar, please. One minute. Thank you. I would like to say that I am sure that the European Union has a lot to say about this. It is important that we should be stronger together, as one of the former representatives of the European Union. I know very well that there are still opportunities, but we have to speed up the process, for example, with Serbia. Ambassador of Parliament, Ambassador Istvan Pastor, said a security letter that will be useful for the next 20 years and it is important that more than a year has passed. I am sure that everything will be fine with the next six months. We would love to agree on it, but it will also be better for other organisations. I am very sorry that the Budapest Economic Coordination Conference, which was held as a priority as a priority, has remained in place, but I am sure that we will be able to get together in the right time. It is important that Bistrosur supports the initiative of the Economic Coordination Association. I think that it will be important to make sure that the environment is protected, because of the innovation issues. In addition, the Cultural Coordination Association has also made a list of the existing partnerships with the International Coordination Association and the International Coordination Association for Cultural and Economic Coordination. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The floor now to Mirja Verkapera for one minute. Thank you for the phone call. I am Marvosa Komissari. In Finland, there is an external beach with a sea of ​​thousand and three hundred and forty kilometers. Our southern neighboring countries have a day off. The Coordination Association meets with the shopping mall, the travel, cultural cooperation and education. In recent years, the European Naval Coordination Association has been established in other areas of the world as well as in the field of monitoring and communication. During the coronavirus period, Finland and the United States are moving people, goods and less problems. We Finns, we are in a strong European relationship with the United States, and we hope that the European Union will be able to improve the current relations between Europe and the United States. Thank you very much. The floor now to Ainsran Pal. Please, for one minute. Yes, Mr. President, Mr. Commissioner, Mr. President, I would really like to salute the ambition of the European Commission to strengthen the partnership with the South Coast of the Mediterranean as part of the new strategy of southern neighboring countries expected for the first 21st semester. We are 22 countries co-appropriated of a part of this Mediterranean river that is our common sea. It is therefore important that this new strategy is prioritized in the most recent challenges of the Mediterranean basin, including climate change, food security and sustainable recovery following the pandemic. These new challenges claim a political framework that associates territorial collectivities and that allows to address and resolve joint maintenance problems and better exploit the common potential of the region. In particular, a macro-regional strategy for the Mediterranean that would gather representatives of the European Union, the United States and regions, as well as other territorial partners and civil society would allow to strengthen the cooperation in the Mediterranean and would give greater cooperation to the different interventions on the priorities identified by the Union for the Mediterranean and the policy of neighboring neighboring countries. Thank you very much, Madame. Thank you very much. Let me now give the floor again to Mr. Kaminski if he is connected for one minute. He is not connected, so Commissioner, you can go ahead with your final remarks. Thank you. Let's go one by one to Mr. Schausberger. I think that the entire commission is committed to the Western Balkans. At least this is what I sense and what I see from the support I get from other colleagues, especially from our president. As you have seen, maybe the best example is the COVID crisis. We have been very quick in mobilizing all the help for the Western Balkans first, actually, among our neighborhood and we have been able to mobilize as much as 3.3 billion euros. For this, I needed the support of the entire commission. For me, this is a very clear commitment from all of us towards the region. Your second question whether they should participate in the future of Europe Conference? Of course. It's very important that they also share their views with us within that context. It is always very important to listen to countries before they are joining. But there is one trap that we should avoid, making enlargement to be the topic of the future of Europe. Because enlargement is not an issue that would have to be debated within the context of the future of Europe. We have clear articles already in the treaty about the fact that enlargement is a permanent policy of the European project, because we want to bring peace and prosperity throughout our continent. Third comment was about circumventing the blockages. This is how I noted it down basically to circumvent the veto of the member state concerned when it comes to North Macedonia. In this case. Well, it is a very difficult and very heavy question. So I wouldn't like to give you a hasty answer to that. I don't think that it is the right approach, because after all enlargement is about all of us. Enlargement is about all member states feeling comfortable about the whole process. There are so many points in which we need all member states to agree that it is no point pushing somebody aside, and only to find out later on that their opposition to the project have only grown. So this is why my message has been that we need to find pragmatic solutions and after all becoming an EU member state is all about being able to make pragmatic choices, pragmatic decisions and to come to common understanding even on most difficult issues. I do hope that through this process we will get there and as I said we are doubling our efforts to get there. To Mr. Ciembatti Yes, we need more synergies with the Southern neighborhood and with this I would like to also answer to Mrs. Rampal that we need the Southern neighborhood to be more prosperous more secure and more stable and it is for that reason that we are now reaching out to them because we see also a huge potential in redesigning our partnership. A huge potential emerges from this crisis because we see that very many companies are now looking for new investments new geographic areas to invest in. And the single biggest challenge that we face also in the Southern neighborhood is due to the fact that we have a significant divergence between the economic development of the Southern neighborhood and Europe. And if we are able to help them with this priority to build more resilient stronger economies, diversify their economies, we will have a much more stable, much more secure neighborhood and also we can create a buy-in on their side on issues that are highly important to us, like building a strong economy for them for us, of course there are many issues like addressing illegal migration. To Mrs. Magyaranna yes, I fully agree with you that we have a unique opportunity in front of us now in Serbia. We have a government with a large majority in the parliament with a program that is focused on reforms reforms without which no European path can be brought forward. The first delivery we have seen already these days and I think that if Serbia is ready to engage the EU is also ready to engage and this is for that reason our efforts in work with Serbia of course we are not here to do it alone we need Serbia to come along and to deliver and finally on the relations with Russia I'm happy to say that Russia does not make part of my portfolio because that is a very difficult topic as long as Russia is threatening its neighbors and occupying their territory I failed to see how we could move forward with that. Thank you very much. Commissioner Vareli the discussion or debate on EU enlargement has reached its end so I would like to thank you very much for your time your commitments and your hard work and I would also like to thank all of our members our colleagues who have been following all day this second day of our plenary the second day of our plenary is now over