European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy

The European Union commissioner for enlargement, Johannes Hahn, on Thursday lamented last week's decision not to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania as "a matter of deep disappointment."

In opening remarks at the European Parliament plenary debate on opening the accession talks, Hahn said that EU leaders have "failed to live up to their commitment."

Talking to reporters, Kovacs warned the EU against further abandoning the Western Balkans strategy and indicated that China has its own strategy for the region.
"We know from the past that there have always been problems if no attention is paid to the Balkans", he said, adding that he sees the region's biggest security problems in religious extremism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

North Macedonia needs to reform its judiciary to ensure it can handle high-level crime and corruption cases before the European Union can set a date to start accession talks, top EU official Johannes Hahn said on Thursday.

Thanks to the Friendship Agreement with Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia was given the chance to be invited to negotiate with the European Union for accession. This was stated by EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn in an interview with MIA.

The European Commissioner for Enlargement and Good Neighbourhood Johannes Hahn wrote in Twitter that it was time to finalize the historic project of uniting Europe and integration in the Western Balkans.

In response to a question from a Greek MEP over the appropriation by the Albanian state of land belonging to members of the Greek minority there, European Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn reportedly said Monday that the European Commission is closely monitoring the situation throughout the country.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has "good chances" of catching up with negotiations for European Union membership once the name deal with Greece goes through, the bloc's commissioner for enlargement, Johannes Hahn, has said.

The leaders of the Western Balkan countries and EU commissioners, Maria Gabriel and Johannes Hahn, are in Vienna at the invitation of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz, reported the Bulgarian National Television. 

This morning they discussed the European perspective of the Western Balkans, regional cooperation and bilateral contacts.

Johannes Hahn, the European Union commissioner responsible for bloc enlargement negotiations and neighborhood policy, has called for an end to accession negotiations with Turkey.

Turkey's membership of the EU is not realistic in the foreseeable future, Hahn told Die Welt newspaper published Tuesday.

The European Union should end accession negotiations with Turkey and pursue a different kind of cooperation with the country, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Kathimerini in an interview published on Sunday.