EU says reforms needed ‘with regards to the fundamentals, in particular rule of law’ to have a chance to ‘provisionally close accession negotiations by the end of 2028’

We will formally get the EU’s commentary on the enlargement ratings (9:26) in just over an hour – when EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and EU enlargment commissioner Marta Kos are due to speak to journalists – but we have just had a brief glimpse of what’s coming during Kos’s appearance in the European parliament.

She said these have been “significant advances on the EU path achieved so far by Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine,” stressing that “reforms pay off.”

I can say that these four candidates have matched their ambitions with concrete actions.