European Commission presented its annual Enlargement Package in which it recommends the opening of accession negotiations with Montenegro, and granting EU candidate status to Serbia. On the package of reports it also assessed the progress towards EU accession made by the Western Balkans, Turkey, and Iceland over the past year.

Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan Füle presented Commission's annual Enlargement Package. The package consists in a set of annual reports which recommends, among other analysis, the opening of accession negotiations with Montenegro, and granting EU candidate status to Serbia. With regard to Montenegro, this country has strengthened its reform efforts based on the priorities set out by the European Union. On Serbia's recommendation, the arrest of the two remaining ICTY indictees removed a major stumbling block from Serbia's European path and marked an important step towards reconciliation in the region. A dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina was established and has yielded initial results.

The European Commission also confirmed its earlier recommendation to open accession negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Visa-free travel to the Schengen area was granted to the citizens of two more Western Balkan countries in December 2010, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, there are still major challenges in the region such as good governance, the rule of law, administrative capacity, unemployment and economic reform. However, there are still problems concerning regional cooperation. In a number of countries, important reforms were delayed, often as a result of internal political developments and conflicts. There have been a number of worrying developments in freedom of expression in the media and differences over status of Kosovo continue to have a negative effect on both Kosovo and the wider Western Balkans region.

The package of reports also shows how the accession negotiations with Turkey have regrettably not moved into any new areas for over a year. Turkey's EU-accession process remains the most effective framework for promoting reforms, developing dialogue on foreign and security policy issues and strengthening economic competitiveness. At the same time, the Commission is concerned about the recent tensions in relations between Turkey and Cyprus. On the other hand, negotiations with Iceland are ongoing. The Commission expects that the accession negotiations will continue to progress well and is confident that core issues such as fisheries and environmental protection can be addressed constructively.