The European Union will gain new members in the coming period, with Montenegro first in line, followed by Albania, said EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos.
"It is now quite realistic that the European Union will expand in the coming years. However, in many parts of the Western Balkans there is still skepticism about whether EU membership is possible. I hope that the positive example of Montenegro and Albania, which are next, will inspire other countries in the region to follow suit," she said at a conference in Freiburg.
The accession agreements of new countries to the European Union will contain a new provision that will allow the European Commission to apply sanctions in case of non-compliance with the Union's rules and "values", the European Commissioner added.
"The accession agreement with Montenegro will be the first to include special safeguards, drawn from the experience with Hungary," said Marta Kos.
Kos claims that this is about preventing the emergence of "Trojan Horses" within the Union.
"If you had asked me about this five or ten years ago, I would have said it was absurd. But now we understand that we need to be able to protect ourselves," the European Commissioner added.
The last country to join the EU was Croatia, which happened in 2013, and the process itself took ten years.
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