On Tuesday 19 September, France and Germany welcomed the main recommendations of the Franco-German expert group on the institutional reforms needed to enable the European Union to function by 2030 with more than thirty Member States (see EUROPE 13252/26).
The report, which does not reflect the official opinion of Berlin or Paris, analyses the issues at stake and offers a variety of options to be implemented either within the framework of the existing treaties or via a reform of the treaties, noted the French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Laurence Boone. In her view, the report does not contain “anything overly bold” that would fail to win the approval of the French government. Even a European structure based on “differentiation”, which allows for a ‘vanguard’ of countries wishing to move towards greater integration in certain areas, simply reflects the reality of the Union as it exists today, she noted, citing as examples the single currency and the Schengen area of free movement.
Her German counterpart, Anna Lührmann, stressed that it was important for enlargement and EU reform to move forward “hand in hand” and to start thinking now so that the necessary reforms could be carried out during the next legislative cycle. “We have to tell the candidate countries that we will be ready when they are”, she insisted, hoping that the European Council will give “a signal” to this effect by the end of 2023.
Both stressed the importance of respect for the rule of law and fundamental values in the EU, an essential condition for trust between member countries. Rule of law is the price for access to the single market, summed up former MEP Pervenche Berès, a member of the expert group.
Ms Boone and Ms Lührmann also took the view that a revision of the European treaties could not be an end in itself, but a means of giving concrete expression to the choices made regarding the missions and the way of functioning of an enlarged EU.
To see the report by the twelve experts, go to https://aeur.eu/f/8np (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)