European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents proposals that could change the approach EU to admit new members.
How tells Politico, which reviewed the project, instead of the current “all or nothing” approach, Brussels wants to gradually facilitate the entry of Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans into the European Union. This would allow countries wishing to join the EU to reap some of the benefits of membership, rather than having to wait years or decades for them to implement the necessary reforms.
Brussels proposes, for example, to gradually allow candidate countries to join the single market, building on the proposal of France, Germany and Portugal. The EC has warned that EU leaders will need to discuss the commitments that should accompany steps or stages of access to the single market.
Also offered move away from the requirement of unanimity, which inhibits decision-making on foreign and tax policy, in order to avoid deadlocks in the future. The document, notes “European Truth”, proposes voting by a qualified majority, “with appropriate and proportional guarantees to ensure strategic national interests.”
The European Commission insists that depriving the principle of unanimity does not require changing the EU treaties, since this path is already spelled out in existing treaties through the so-called passerelle clauses, which allow countries to change voting rules.
At a meeting of the board, 27 European Commissioners must approve the document. Some European capitals were nervous about him because they didn’t want too much attention on enlargement before the June European elections.
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