Reforms must be carried out by 2030 if the EU is to avoid paralysis before its enlargement with other countries such as Ukraine
Brussels, Belgium Sep 19 2023, 17:22 4975 read 5 comments
A Franco-German report calls for deep reforms in the European Union before the bloc expands further, reports AFP.
Reforms must be carried out by 2030 if the EU is to avoid paralysis before its enlargement with other countries such as Ukraine, says the expert report commissioned by Paris and Berlin and presented today in Brussels to the 27 countries EU members.
“It is clear that the enlargement of the EU is in the interest of all of us and we must therefore start from now on to put everything into practice so that the EU is ready”, commented today the German Minister for European Affairs, Anna Luhrmann.
In the report, 12 experts say that it is necessary to simplify the functioning of a Europe with possibly 30 or more member states.
“For geopolitical reasons, EU enlargement is on the right track in the list of priorities, but the EU is not yet ready to accept new members, neither from an institutional nor from a political point of view,” the experts emphasize.
Rejection
In particular, they propose the idea of abandoning the rule of unanimity for certain decisions. This rule now requires compromises that are difficult to achieve. Sometimes this rule paralyzes the discussions between the 27.
Unanimity will remain the rule in foreign and security policy, but will be replaced by a qualified majority on other sensitive issues, such as fiscal policy. Cautious on this issue, which is considered high-risk, the experts who prepared the report suggest possibilities for exceptions to the rule.
Concerned about the efficiency of the EU, experts also propose in the report so-called differentiation in the EU, where some member states would be left to move forward freely without waiting for others. This is not a new idea, but it is opposed by several member states who fear that there will be a multi-speed Europe in which some countries will be kept apart from others.
Integration
According to the report, this Europe will include a first round of countries ready for an ambitious integration, which will be something like a solid core. Next will come a group of countries that are satisfied with the single market, which is now Switzerland or Norway. And finally comes the European Political Community to guarantee the dialogue between all the countries of the continent.
The report also recommends reducing the number of EU commissioners. It is now 27, so that each member country has its own commissioner. The report also proposes to limit the number of MEPs to a maximum of 751 people.
The EU must decide by the end of the year whether or not to start accession talks with several countries, including Ukraine and Moldova.
A change
EC President Ursula von der Leyen said last week that the EU should not wait for treaty changes to move forward on the enlargement path and called for faster adaptation of the Union, its institutions and its budget.
In Brussels today, the French Minister for European Affairs, Laurent Boon, emphasized that the experts’ report presented today is in no way a proposal of Paris and Berlin, but an expert contribution offering options to fuel the discussion.
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2023-09-19 14:22:00
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