On the agenda: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his team of commissioners meet in Strasbourg Tuesday to discuss the Western Balkans, with European enlargement chief Johannes Hahn and foreign policy head Federica Mogherini to present a plan to help Western Balkan countries move toward membership. Commission spokesperson Alexander Winterstein said Juncker will visit the Western Balkans at the end of February.
Mogherini will also hold a joint press conference with Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui later today.
Cypriot election: Juncker congratulated President Nicos Anastasiades on winning reelection in Cyprus on Sunday.
The Commission didn’t comment on: A former far-right Italian candidate shooting Africans in the city of Macerata. Winterstein also didn’t comment on the controversial FBI memo alleging misconduct by senior American officials while investigating the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Macedonia: The Commission was also reluctant to wade into the dispute between Greece and Macedonia over naming rights. Macedonia — which the U.N. recognizes as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia — is a candidate to join the EU, but faces opposition from Greece which has a northern province also called Macedonia.
Asked if the EU will leave the issue to the U.N., Winterstein said: “Yes, that’s right.”
European Medicines Agency: Asked if confidential information was part of the vote to relocate the agency to Amsterdam after Brexit, Winterstein said the Commission had “very clear procedures in place for how information submitted” was to be processed. He also said France and the Netherlands were the two countries “that have asked for certain parts of the information submitted to be treated confidentially,” adding that EU countries “had all the information that they needed” when they made the decision over where to place the agency.
Turkey: Asked about Turkey’s accession to the EU, Winterstein said: “It takes two to tango,” implying that Turkey did not follow up on its commitments to enter the bloc. “Turkey was moving in the opposite direction, so let’s see what the future brings.”
Poland’s Holocaust laws: Asked about a controversial bill that would ban people from suggesting that Poland was complicit in the Holocaust, Winterstein said: “This is a question which is better dealt with historians, and not by the Commission.”