STRASBOURG – The enlargement will certainly make Europe stronger, but it should not be seen merely as a geopolitical tool, and it must go hand in hand with the internal reforms of the European Union, stressed the speakers at today’s plenary session of the European Parliament.
Addressing the MEPs who took part in the discussion entitled “Institutional and political implications of the EU enlargement process and global challenges”, Ekaterina Zaharieva, the European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, stated that in March 2024, the European Commission adopted the first communication on pre-enlargement policy reviews.
“In July last year, President von der Leyen announced that the new College will present the pre-enlargement policy reviews focusing on individual sectors such as the rule of law, single market, food security, defence and security, climate and energy, migration, as well as social and territorial cohesion more broadly. As announced in our work programme for 2025, the Commission is currently carrying out in-depth policy reviews in view of future enlargement”, Zaharieva said.
She said that all options need to be examined, starting with using the full potential of the current Treaties.
“In that regard, the Commission believes we need to extend the use of qualified majority voting in the Council in some areas, moving away from unanimity”, Zakarieva added.
She added that the EC was also aware of the “sensitivity of the issue” for some member states.
Speaking about the prospects for the EU enlargement, Željana Zovko from the EPP group claimed that “Western Balkans countries today are victims of EU bureaucratic procedures and disagreements with their neighbours that slow down their integration and undermine their institutional renewal”.
“If we leave the candidate countries in the hands of those who want to dismantle Europe-from outside and from within – peace and security will no longer be defended by anyone,” Zovko emphasised.
According to Katheel Van Brempt, a member of the S&D group, the enlargement, when it is done right, is a game-changer, since it brings peace and prosperity across Europe. However, she remarked that there should be no shortcuts.
“Rule of law, fundamental rights, freedom of media, democracy – they are not negotiable… When a candidate country slides back on these values, we must act…When a Serbian President shows up at Putin’s parade, when he silences democracy back home, the EU must respond, there should be no more appeasement”, she said, adding that it was about the credibility of the EU and Serbia’s future.
Van Brempt remarked that, at the same time, the EU needed to reform itself, since it could not demand from others what it ignored itself.
Similarly, Vladimir Prebilič, a representative of the Greens in the EP, stressed that the successful enlargement was not possible without the reform of the EU institutions.
According to Prebilič, “we need to make sure that there will be more resources in the EU budget for the enlargement”, as it is the investment in the stability of the entire continent.
Tonino Picula, a member of the S&D group in the EP, remarked that the European Union “must support the real, not the fictional reforms” in the candidate countries.
“For too long, the EU had treated the enlargement policy in an almost transactional manner, guided by the false belief that European money would solve all the internal problems of the candidate countries… Insisting on the rule of law and European values, but also on a coordinated geopolitical orientation, must be the basis for the continuation of the enlargement policy”, Picula noted.
Thomas Waitz, a representative of the Greens in the EP, said that Montenegro and Albania had a realistic chance to join the EU until 2028, and that the two countries “have been reliable partners to the EU”.
“Let’s keep the door open for Montenegro and Albania, the region needs the signal that the enlargement is possible”, Waitz stressed.
