Remarks by Commissioner Kos on the pre-enlargement policy reviews

Good afternoon,

Today, we adopted the Communication on “Preparing for a wider Union”.

The Communication is complemented by an in-depth sectoral analysis of the impact of enlargement on our Union. 

It assesses to what extent our Union is ready for enlargement and what adjustment we need to make to accommodate for a larger membership.

Why does this matter?

Enlargement is in our interest. It is about protecting our interests and defending our values.

A larger Union is a long-term investment in Europe's peace, security, and prosperity.

It is also an opportunity to make Europe stronger. 

An enlarged Union increases our political and economic weight in a world of fierce geopolitical competition.

It brings clear benefits to our citizens. It brings stronger democracy, safety, security, and solidarity.

And it is good for Europe's economy. It strengthens the single market, brings more jobs and more opportunities for people and businesses.

In this Communication, we focus on what is needed for both candidate countries and EU Member States to take the next steps on enlargement.

I want to emphasize five sets of steps:

Point 1: Practical solutions on governance, rule of law and policies

Enlargement is an opportunity to become stronger, more flexible and more effective as a Union.

We can optimize the use of passerelle clauses and extend qualified-majority voting where the Treaties provide for it.

It is possible to reduce the number of areas where one country alone can veto decisions everyone else supports.

For instance, on sanctions or in the fight against tax fraud. Or in the accession process - for the intermediate steps between the opening and closing of negotiations. When we negotiate and conclude international agreements, the recourse to mixed agreements should be avoided.

We need to look at all our institutions. They should be leaner and allow us to act faster.

A bigger Union needs to be a more flexible Union. We could use more enhanced cooperation.

This means that a group of countries is going ahead, with the possibility of others joining later.  This is how the European Public Prosecutors Office was created.

Point 2: A more ambitious framework for gradual integration.

We want to be more ambitious to integrate our candidate countries in selected parts of the Union ahead of membership.

Gradual integration cannot be a substitute for full membership.

It is a bridge between the geopolitical need to stabilize our continent, while pursuing a merits-based enlargement.

Gradual integration will require two key ingredients: progress on reforms, and strategic alignment.

Once candidates meet the standards, they should be able to participate in strategic sectors where there are clear win-wins for current and future member states. Like in energy, transport, artificial intelligence, security or defence.

This is good for EU companies and their partners in future member states. Working with the same standards makes it easier to do business. This is particularly important for Ukraine's reconstruction. 

Participation in EU policies should be reversible, conditional on reforms and only open to candidates that share our Union's values and our strategic interests.

Point 3: We propose a new framework for accession safeguards.

All member states will enjoy equal rights. Also newcomers. We do not want a two-tier membership.

To join our Union, countries need to meet very high standards on the rule of law. We need to be sure that after joining they never fall below those standards again.

This is what we have learned from experience.

We are proposing stronger safeguards for any new member state against serious backsliding on commitments undertaken during the negotiations, particularly on the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights (Art. 2).

And against serious breaches of the principle of sincere cooperation (Art. 4).

We want to make it easier to cut financial support or restrict voting rights. This is an insurance policy so we can react, if needed.

We also propose for new Member States not to oppose decision concerning future enlargements relating to bilateral disputes.

These safeguards should be proportionate, temporary, non-discriminatory and based on the equality of all member states.

Point 4: The impact of accession on the Union's policies

Our assessment shows that in most policy areas, the EU can accommodate for enlargement. But there are areas where we will need adjustments.

For Ukraine, the scale, structure and very high productivity of the agriculture sector calls for the examination of targeted arrangements for sensitive agricultural products only.

While Ukraine's membership must not have a negative effect on EU farmers, we want to support Ukraine in regaining access to its historic, third-country export markets.

Point 5: Roadmaps for the four most advanced candidate countries
We identified four frontrunners. Montenegro, Albania, Moldova, and Ukraine. These countries have shown significant progress in terms of readiness over the past years.

In the enlargement reports, published at the end of October, we intend to present indicative roadmaps for these candidates. We want to help them sustain reform progress.

The roadmaps will set out the next steps. They will contain tentative timelines and clear deliverables. This will provide us with more predictability on the accession path.

Important: this path will continue to be based on the individual achievements on candidates. There will be no short-cuts. 

What follows now?

This communication is the start of a discussion.  About how to prepare today for the stronger Europe we want to be tomorrow.

The Commission invites the European Council and the Parliament to advance discussions on institutional preparations and policy measures.

At the European Commission the operational follow up is four-fold:

We intend to present the roadmaps for the most advanced candidates. To be published together with the enlargement reports at the end of October.

We will prepare the next steps for the enhanced gradual integration. The Commission will map existing gradual integration instruments and put forward an ambitious new approach. Also at the end of October.

We will draw up detailed proposals for the safeguards in the next days. We will apply them for the first time with Montenegro.

We will take our assessment on Ukraine's agricultural sector into consideration, when discussing the opening of cluster five for Ukraine. We are hopeful this debate can start in a few weeks from now.

To conclude:

Our assessment shows that enlargement is possible.

But there are areas where we see challenges, we need to address.

One is leaner institutions, and more flexible and effective decision-making.

On the rule of law and sincere cooperation. We are proposing tools to react more forcefully to serious breaches. It can mean cutting funding or restricting voting rights.

On agriculture, we propose to consider targeted arrangements for Ukraine. 

We will now take these ideas forward with our Member States.

And act to make a larger European Union, also a stronger Union, able to shape its own future.