Yesterday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock organized an inter-ministerial conference in Berlin with the eloquent title: “A wider and stronger union – making the European Union suitable for enlargement and future members suitable for accession”. The list of participants deserves attention because Italy did not send any representative at a political level, not a minister nor a deputy minister or an undersecretary, we were only present at a technical level (better than nothing but not enough). There were the foreign ministers of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Kosovo, Latvia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine. While France, Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Moldova, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Serbia sent either a minister for European Affairs (Laurence Boone was there) or a deputy foreign minister or a secretary of state.
For Baerbock «the European Union must be enlarged. This is the geopolitical consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” Already in a speech delivered in Prague on 29 August 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz had spoken of the geopolitical necessity of enlargement and the need to immediately begin a reflection on the future of the EU, starting from the assumption that “form must follow function ”. The position that emerged yesterday is that of Baerbock: a pragmatic approach is needed which means sectoral integration to avoid the “frustration” of waiting too long. It means allowing candidate countries to access EU benefits in some areas before becoming full members. Baerbock said they could participate as observers in the Councils for those sectors where they have already reached the required standards. He also spoke of the need to overcome unanimity voting and move on to qualified majority for a series of decisions starting with foreign policy and to divide the Commission’s portfolios so that the countries lead an area of responsibility in tandem to avoid the multiplication of the commissioners.
However, he also warned that cherry picking must be avoided and that the starting point must be respect for the rule of law and EU values. The risk, however, is of seeing a Europe à la carte. Yesterday the Foreign Minister of North Macedonia went so far as to imagine access to structural and cohesion funds before the completion of the process so as not to lose the pro-European enthusiasm of citizens who have to wait for decades for the moment of entry. And Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, present at the conference, said that Kiev’s membership would strengthen the EU but above all that “EU reform should not take enlargement hostage”. Will it be an EU with concentric circles, with multiple speeds or sectoral integration or gradual integration? The discussion has begun and once again the Franco-German engine will drive the transformation.
2023-11-03 11:58:24
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