The EU assigned fourteen "home tasks" to the Western Balkans

The EU interior ministers assessed that all countries of the Western Balkans in the area of ​​"security and migration" should implement a program of fourteen points, in order to more effectively combat illegal migration, organized crime and arms trafficking, but also to bring these countries closer to the standards EU, writes Deutsche Welle.

After the visit of the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker to the region, the EU Interior Ministers held a meeting yesterday and approved the action plans proposed by the European Commission in the new Strategy for the Western Balkans on the possible membership of Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo in the Union.

The homework that is formulated in the 14-point plan extends until 2020. The European Union wants to then re-examine what progress has been made in the field of internal security - country by country, point by point.

The new report should then show who needs to work harder in which places.

All this is happening keeping in mind the target year of 2025, which the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, pointed out once again in Sofia, at the end of his visit to the Balkans, according to DW.

DW also states that not all interior ministers in Brussels agreed with Junker's target date, ie 2025. Outgoing German minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) criticized the wrong order of steps and said that dates should not be given and that everything must be completed by 2025.

"The right way must be for the countries that want to join the EU to fulfill the necessary conditions with their own efforts. Then it can be decided whether they are ready for the EU," De Mezieres said.

On the list of 14 tasks to be completed by 2020, the appointment of national coordinators or services to fight against Islamic radicalization, which should be networked throughout the Balkans and work together, is also mentioned.

Also, national coordinators for better border control should be established and networked, in order to improve border surveillance and suppress so-called illegal migration.

The EU agency should help in the training of police forces and investigators, in order to act in a targeted manner against organized crime, human trafficking and drug trafficking. One of the key things should be the suppression of the arms trade.

The countries of the Balkans and the police services of the EU should form joint teams for interventions, for investigating crimes and identifying those responsible.

It is also envisaged that the European Police Service (Europol) will open a liaison office in all six countries that want to join the EU.

The countries of the Balkans should be fully involved in the EU project to fight against organized crime, and should attend the meetings of the investigative services involved in the project.

In the countries of the Balkans, national coordinators for better border control should be established and networked, in order to improve border surveillance and suppress so-called illegal migration.

The ministers of interior affairs of the EU and the European Commission agree that the above-mentioned reform and construction of infrastructure will cost money and therefore the countries of the Balkans should receive adequate, large aid.

The European Commission promised this back in February, during the presentation of its Strategy for the Balkans. Six Balkan countries will receive slightly more than one billion euros in "pre-accession aid" this year. It is calculated that the amount spent between 2007 and 2017 will amount to a total of nine billion euros, according to DW.