Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi presented on Wednesday 5 February the Commission's new methodology for the EU accession process.
This communication, while not revolutionising the process set up in 2003, should make it possible to improve its effectiveness and implementation. It is very much inspired by the French proposal (see EUROPE 12418/11).
“The process needs to be better equipped to deal with structural weaknesses in the countries (...) It is of major importance to build more trust among all stakeholders and to enhance the accession process and make it more effective”, the Commission states in its Communication. According to Mr Várhelyi, the Commission has taken into account the elements that led to the “failure” of the opening of negotiations last October, without compromising on the principles underlying the enlargement process.
The methodology is based on four principles: credibility, predictability, dynamism and greater political steer. “We want to rebuild strong and mutual trust between the Western Balkans and us, our Member States and our publics”, the Commissioner explained.
A process founded on respect for the Rule of law
For the Commission, credibility must be enhanced by an even stronger emphasis on fundamental reforms, “which will become even more central in the accession negotiations”. As is currently the case for Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Freedom, Security, Justice), negotiations on the fundamentals will be opened first and closed last, and progress in these areas will determine the overall pace of the negotiations.
Discussions on the fundamentals will be guided by a roadmap for the Rule of law chapters - equivalent to previous Action Plans - which will be the criterion for opening negotiations, a roadmap on the functioning of democratic institutions and public administration reform and a stronger link to the economic reform programme, which will help countries to meet the economic criteria.
In order to make the process more dynamic, the Commission has chosen to follow the French idea of thematic clusters, which will group together several negotiating chapters. The first cluster therefore covers the fundamentals, which include chapters 23 and 24, economic criteria, the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform and public procurement, among others. The other five clusters are: the internal market; competitiveness and inclusive growth; the green agenda and sustainable connectivity; resources, agriculture and cohesion; and external relations. Negotiations on each cluster will be opened as a whole.
This clustering should be an incentive to accelerate reforms and move forward faster, if these countries carry out reforms faster, Mr Várhelyi explained. These five clusters may be opened in any order, according to the wishes of the candidate countries. For the Commission, “clustering chapters will allow a stronger focus on core sectors in the political dialogue and provide an improved framing for higher level political engagement”.
Making the process more political
Strengthening political steering is another priority for the Commission. For the institution, “it is time to put the political nature of the process front and centre and ensure stronger steering and high-level engagement from the Member States”.
In particular, the Commission advocates regular EU/Western Balkans summits, an annual debate in the European Council on enlargement, or the participation of Ministers from the Balkan countries in Ministerial discussions in areas where their countries are fully engaged, such as Horizon 2020.
In order to involve the Member States more closely and to ensure that their analyses do not differ from the Commission's analysis of the situation in the candidate countries, the Commission intends to include them more in the monitoring process.
“Clearly defined conditions are needed to know what needs to be done and when this is achieved (...) That is why we want to involve all Member States in the monitoring. We need them to share their analysis in order to avoid the last-minute surprises we have already seen three times (June 2018, June and October 2019, editor's note)”, admitted Mr Várhelyi, who wants the conditions to be objective, precise, detailed, strict and verifiable.
Member States will therefore be invited to carry out on the ground monitoring through their experts, to make direct contributions to the annual reports and to make their sectoral expertise available. “Member States will also have the opportunity to review and monitor overall progress more regularly”, the document says.
The Commission will make proposals for the following year in its annual reports, “giving more details of the reforms” to be approved by the Member States, including proposals for remedial action. It also wants the publication of the reports to be followed by the holding of country-specific Inter-Governmental Conferences as “fora for political dialogue on reforms”. The aim will be to take stock of the accession process in general and to decide on the timetable for the following year, including the opening and closing of chapters or clusters of chapters and possible corrective measures.
Possibility of reversing
As requested by several Member States - such as France and the Netherlands - and while it was already possible to stop an accession process, the new methodology emphasises the principle of reversibility. The Commission proposes to strengthen the predictability of the process and positive and negative conditionality - i.e. the reversibility of the process.
The process, based on merit, will enable a country that is sufficiently advanced on the priorities to benefit, inter alia, from an accelerated integration process, increased participation in EU programmes and increased funding and investment.
On the other hand, any serious or prolonged situation of stagnation or even setbacks in the implementation of reforms and compliance with the requirements inherent in the accession process may be sanctioned. “It is clear that in our public opinion there is a strong call for us to be able to reverse the process (...) when there are steps backwards”, Mr Várhelyi explained.
In “serious” cases, the Commission will be able to make proposals on its own initiative or at the duly motivated request of a Member State, “in order to ensure a quick response to the situation through, whenever relevant, simplified procedures, including reverse qualified majority voting”, the document says. Member States could thus decide to put negotiations on hold in certain areas or, in the most serious cases, to suspend them. Chapters already closed could be reopened. Similarly, EU funding could be reduced, with the exception of support for civil society, and access to EU programmes or unilateral concessions for market access could be temporarily suspended or withdrawn.
While this methodology does not apply to Serbia and Montenegro, which have already opened several negotiating chapters, the proposed changes could fit into the existing negotiating frameworks with the agreement of Belgrade and Podgorica.
Progress report on Albania and North Macedonia in the coming weeks
The new methodology will be discussed in the General Affairs Council on 25 February. This has been rather well received, particularly by France. “This is a positive first step. We have a reversible process with the possibility of suspending or stopping the negotiations and strong political control by Member States”, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin told AFP. However, she said that Paris was also awaiting a report on “the reality of the reforms required of Albania and North Macedonia” and that France would take its decision on the opening of negotiations “on the basis of all these steps”.
The Commission is therefore expected to present revised progress reports on Albania and North Macedonia at the end of February or early March, in the hope of having a decision on the opening of negotiations with these two countries in March.
See communication from the Commission: https://bit.ly/31tS7bn (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)