Thewesternbalkans.
Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and Germany (five of the six founding EU members – Italy did not join) are proposing the introduction of stricter safeguard mechanisms in future EU accession agreements, which would allow for a more effective response to violations of fundamental European principles by newly admitted countries, reported the Belgian news agency Belga.
In a joint 3 pages document, the five founding EU countries emphasize that enlargement remains a “geostrategic investment in peace, security, stability, and prosperity,” but they note the need to learn lessons from previous waves of enlargement. “This will be key to uphold and increase political and public support for enlargement, which is, in turn, instrumental in view of the required ratification of accession treaties in all member states” says the document.
According to the proposal, future accession agreements should include a special ‘set’ of protective mechanisms tailored to the specific challenges of each candidate country. The goal is to ensure that new members will consistently uphold the Union’s values and that EU institutions will continue to function effectively.
Among the ideas being discussed is temporarily limiting the voting rights of newly admitted countries on sensitive issues that require unanimity, such as foreign policy and the EU’s multiannual budget. The five countries also suggest simplifying the procedure under Article 7 of the EU Treaty so that temporarily suspending voting rights does not require unanimous approval during a transitional period. Known as the “nuclear option”, Article 7 consists of two main procedural steps: activation by a 4/5th majority of member states and suspension of voting rights by unanimity (except the accused country). In past cases involving Hungary and Poland, the unanimity requirement for the second step has proven impossible to meet.
The document says the suspension of voting rights should be possible with just a 4/5th majority to enable faster action if a new member backslides.
The document also provides additional tools for sanctioning violations of the rule of law, democratic standards, and media freedom. These include possibilities for limiting various forms of European cooperation, as well as introducing a binding safeguard clause in case of a “serious regression in the rule of law during the first years after accession.”
The five countries also insist that future treaties explicitly include an obligation to respect the principle of loyal cooperation. The idea is motivated by cases where individual member states have blocked common EU decisions despite prior agreements.
The proposals come against the backdrop of intensified discussions about reforming the EU enlargement process. At the moment, Montenegro is considered the most advanced candidate country, and the European Union is already preparing a draft of the future treaty for its accession.
Comments: The proposal comes amid an intensifying debate over how to adapt the decades-long accession process to the new geopolitical context and move it from a bureaucratic concept to a tangible perspective.
But, reading the signals coming from Paris and Berlin (and some other capitals too), we have the impression that panic has taken over the two leading countries in the EU. First, they propose simplified procedures for expanding the Union, without specifying exactly what these proposed procedures look like, seemingly just to please Kyiv. Then, they immediately suggest draconian safeguard clauses aimed at minimizing damage, at least from the new EU member states. It’s as if these countries are joining the EU with a single purpose—to destroy it.
The big problem for the EU is in the decision-making mechanism for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, which requires unanimity. Changing it is only possible by amending the Treaty on the European Union, and that’s a long and complicated process, which again requires unanimity in the European Council plus ratification in the member countries, which at this point doesn’t seem feasible.
