Kristof Bender

I do not want to contribute to this platform any more. I have stopped to post in December 2024 and will now fully cease to use any features, including direct messages. Please use other means to get in touch.

It's Christmas, but this is rather time sensitive. Time for #Georgia is running out. Before 29 December EU capitals need to take a clear stance in support of president @Zourabichvili_S, democracy and fair elections. #StopDictatorship Read more: esiweb.org/sites/default/…

This photo made my day. Solidarity with #GiselePelicot and all survivors.

Mit einem der "Bilder des Jahres" hat @DIEZeit für mich gleich auch noch die "Bildunterschrift des Jahres" geliefert: "Auch die Bundeswehr ist beim Hochwasser in Reichertshofen aktiv." Was die wohl machen, wenn sie mal Pause haben?

#Syria: Muzinah tonight, near the Krak des Chevaliers (W. #Homs).

Dear @rasaned, I have your contact from @IVejvoda. Could you please follow me so that I can send you a direct message. Many thanks, kb

DON'T MISS @MarkGaleotti discussing the geopolitics of the Syrian events, esp. as they impact on #Putin, #Russia and #Ukraine on my new podcast from the @IWM_Vienna - #FutureDiscontinuous with co-host Eva Konzett from Falter Magazine. Galeotti at his best tinyurl.com/3dt65es4

Agree. However, keeping chapters [clusters] unopened will also change little—just look at developments since December 2021. The only ‘race’ truly worth attention is the one towards closing chapters and concluding accession negotiations. On that front, with or without opened cluster 3, 🇷🇸 remains far behind.

📢  Historic achievement for Montenegro and the Central Bank! 🇲🇪💫 As of today, 🇲🇪 is part of the geographical scope of SEPA payment schemes—the first Western Balkan country to achieve this milestone. Under 🏦 @Centralnabanka guidance, 🇲🇪 aligned payment systems and regulations with EU standards, bringing tangible benefits to our citizens and businesses. While Montenegrin banks will begin adhering to SEPA schemes @EPC_SEPA in April 2025, today marks a major step toward EU integration and financial harmonization. 🇲🇪🇪🇺 🏦🇲🇪 Grateful for excellent collaboration and support @VladaCG @SkupstinaCG @EU_Commission @vonderleyen @olivervarhelyi @GertJanEU @eu_near @giorgioandreoli @EPC_SEPA @WorldBank @MickeySpajic @maidagorcevic @VSuperti @EUAmbME @me4eu @WeBalkans @MiniFinME @PetrusMarcus @josattler @BindseilUlrich @ecb @EUOdborCG @MERTCrneGore youtu.be/Vs4V04GSJQ0?si… #SEPA #EUIntegration #CBCG

Our Scorecard 2024 is out! What do the Commission assessments reveal? Here are my 4️⃣ points on changes in the past two years since "enlargement is back on the agenda" and 🇪🇺 recognised 🇺🇦🇲🇩🇬🇪 as candidate countries and, along with 🇧🇦, opened accession talks. 1️⃣ GOOD NEWS: There has been progress in the level of preparedness for EU membership across the 33 chapters. The most significant progress was seen in 🇲🇩🇺🇦🇦🇱. This is unsurprising, as all three had clear goals tied to their reform implementation. 2️⃣ BAD NEWS: Even with the current pace of progress maintained, NONE of the ten candidates would be ready to join the EU by the end of this decade. At the present rate, 🇹🇷 and 🇧🇦 would not be prepared to join the 🇪🇺 at all. The 'quickest' would be 🇦🇱 in 14 years, followed by 🇲🇩 in 15 years, 🇺🇦 and 🇲🇪 in 21 years, 🇷🇸 and 🇲🇰 in 24 years, and 🇽🇰 in 49 years. 3️⃣ WARNING: 🇺🇦 and 🇲🇩 showed greater improvement in their EU membership preparedness in the period between the two 2023 reports than since then. This trend is familiar, as seen in 🇲🇪 and 🇷🇸: once the milestone of opening accession talks is reached, progress typically slows without a major goal ahead. 4️⃣ WARNING: Partial integration into the 🇪🇺 single market has not boosted preparedness for EU membership. Since 2017, the six Western Balkan countries have been offered partial integration into the 🇪🇺 transport market (without all four freedoms or air transport). This has had little to no impact on readiness in transport-related chapters: minimal progress in 🇲🇪 and 🇷🇸, and no progress in the other four countries. CONCLUSION: At the current pace (= 🇪🇺 policy approach), NONE of the self-made goals for candidate countries — 🇲🇪 to be ready by 2026, 🇦🇱 by 2027, and 🇲🇩 by 2030 — would be met. This risks renewed disappointment and diminished 🇪🇺 influence in candidate countries, as seen previously in the Western Balkans and 🇹🇷. With Donald #Trump back in the White House, 🇪🇺 must take greater responsibility in its neighbourhood. Gradual integration through partial market access and reform funding will not suffice. Nor will offering observer status in 🇪🇺 institutions. What is needed is full support for a concrete target open to all candidate countries: meet the required standards to achieve full 🇪🇺 membership by 2030. With a clear guarantee for 🇲🇪 that if it meets its goal by the end of 2026, it could join the 🇪🇺 in 2028. Other successful candidates could follow by 2030, but if the 🇪🇺 is not ready for new members by then, they should at least gain access to the 🇪🇺 single market and enjoy all four freedoms. Full @ESI_eu "Scorecard 2024: What the Commission assessments reveal" available here: esiweb.org/publications/s…

“It’s a delight to hear about why it happened from so many people who were so wrong about what was going to happen."

Unless Azerbaijan sends a clear signal and releases a significant number of political prisoners, I cannot imagine Azerbaijan returning to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January.

Serious question @guyverhofstadt NATO is & was the most powerful military alliance in history. This did not require creating a NATO army. Or abolishing unanimity. Despite this, NATO achieved its goals: deterrence. This required, of course, serious national politicians, appropriate spending, coherent strategies and serious preparations and cooperation to be credible. If Germans and French would look at European security - and act - like Finns and Lithuanians, a lot would be achieved. @kajakallas @AndriusKubilius @joerglau @GresselGustav

says 🇪🇺 needs clear results EU enlargement in the next five years

Republicans are going to have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and yet here’s Trump urging the Senate to go into recess so that he can bypass it altogether. In other words, he wants to install folks who couldn’t even get through *that* Senate. It’s going to be a long four years.

No surprise, alas. This will likely be used on every important issue, to divide the EU, reduce it to impotence … and then walk away from nato in the end. If 🇩🇪🇫🇷🇳🇱 … watch this passively the EU will be reduced to begging Trump on every issue.

#FionaHill in @politico: "Trump doesn't think of anybody else as individuals. He thinks of people in categories ... Putin and other autocrats do that as well." In such political systems, "you're not an individual. You have no individual rights." politico.com/news/magazine/…

"I will walk the talk on European values," says Marta Kos, Commissioner-Designate for 🇪🇺 enlargement. Later adding that EU might be the last part of the world to stick and defend to these. Key words of the introductory remarks: merit-based principle, geopolitics, fundamentals, transparency, gradual integration.