TALLINN – The next generation of the European Union accession treaties should contain stronger safeguards that would “bite hard” if the new member states backslide on the rule of law. Montenegro’s EU accession treaty should be the first of this new generation, said European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos today.
Kos spoke at the “EU Enlargement Conference 2026: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back?” in Tallinn, Estonia. The Estonian International Centre for Defence and Security and the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs are organisers of the conference.
“We have come to a point where a frank debate is needed to provide answers to a central question – how can we implement our ingredients of success (of the EU enlargement) in a world that bears little comparison to the times of 2004 and 2007?”, Marta Kos asked in her speech.
She said that she saw five crucial elements, the first of which is “no shortcuts on reforms”.
“Fighting corruption and building democratic institutions remain the foundation of EU enlargement. Full EU membership can never come at the detriment of those fundamental reforms”, Marta Kos said.
Secondly, there should be “no Trojan horses” and the EU should be insured against backward steps.
“A lesson learned from 2004 is that we need to have safeguards that ensure new members stick to the rules and the integrity of our Union is assured, even 5, 10, 20 years down the line”, Kos said.
According to her, if the EU cannot provide credible answers to that, it will fall short of the public support needed for enlargement.
“This is why I plead that the next accession treaties should contain stronger safeguards against backsliding on commitments made during the accession negotiations to ensure that the new Member States continue to maintain their track record on the fundamentals” the European Commissioner said.
With Montenegro working to close all the chapters at the end of this year, she said, its accession treaty should be the first of a new generation.
“Any safeguard should remain in place for as long as necessary, but our treaties are clear – they should not create two-tier membership for the countries that are fully aligned with the acquis. Simply put, if the new members respect the rules, they will not even notice those safeguards. But, if countries go backwards on our fundamentals, such as rule of law and the fundamentals, these safeguards must bite hard”, Marta Kos said.
She added that the Commission would send this proposal to the Council of the EU to take this decision forward.
“Third, the EU needs to get ready for new members. We are currently working on the assessments of the impact of enlargement, so we make sure that the Union of more than 30 countries will be credible and effective in delivering to all our citizens across the EU”, Marta Kos said.
Fourth, the EU needs to reward those who deliver on reforms and alignment with the EU rules with faster integration into EU policies and structures.
“This is what we are already doing in the integration into our Euro payment area (SEPA), or our free roaming area, which, since the beginning of the yea,r has been extended to Ukraine and Moldova. We are now proposing to our member states to do the same for the six countries of the Western Balkans”, Kos said.
Finally, the fifth point is just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.
“The integration of Ukraine in the EU against the backdrop of the implementation of a peace agreement and possibly far-reaching security guarantees will undoubtedly bring new impasses. We need to consider a new path without cutting corners on par with the changing realities in Europe”, Marta Kos said.
She said she was glad that this debate was picking up, with EU leaders proposing different models of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
“Let’s have this discussion, but with one baseline – full membership comes only after full reforms”, Kos concluded.
