On Wednesday 11 March, MEPs approved the report by Petras Austrevicius (Renew Europe, Lithuanian) on EU enlargement by 385 votes to 147 with 98 abstentions. In this text, Parliament insists that enlargement is “a geo-strategic investment in peace, security, stability, and prosperity”.
Like many voices in favour of integrating new countries into the Union, the elected representatives believe that leaving certain countries outside the EU risks exposing them to foreign influence, particularly that of Russia.
But while many MEPs would like to see the most advanced countries, such as Montenegro and Albania, rapidly integrated into the process, they stress the vital importance of maintaining a process that is based on the merits of the candidate countries.
This position is shared by the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, contrary to recent reports that the Commission was considering ways of modifying the accession process and integrating certain candidate countries more quickly, even though they had not yet carried out all the reforms required.
“Respect for fundamental principles strengthens the credibility of the process. There will be no Trojan horses, no countries that risk undermining the Union from within”, she insisted at the opening of the debate on Tuesday 10 March. “The Union will only integrate countries that are and have strong democracies. There will be no shortcuts on the issue of reform”, the Commissioner insisted.
Although Albania and Montenegro are expected to conclude their accession negotiations by the end of 2028, or even join the Union before 2030, Marta Kos was keen to point out that they cannot expect any special treatment.
The Patriots for Europe Group and a number of far-right MEPs were particularly vehement in their opposition, with some going so far as to describe the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, as a dictator. “Those who want to bring Ukraine into the EU are the same ones who want to drag us into a war with Russia”, said Fernand Kartheiser (NI, Luxembourgian).
“We cannot leave room for our rivals in these countries”, replied the Commissioner. “If we don’t integrate them, someone else will, and use them against us”.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/l4l (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)