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Published: Publish Date – 12:45 AM, Mon – 12 Sep 22
It is clear that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has brought member states closer together over the past two decades than ever before.
by Valon Murtejazi
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine As we know, the European system has improved, and this was even before the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline was cut this week. While the bloc is grappling with the emerging energy crisis, the question of strengthening its sides by expediting the expansion process has also come into focus again.
crowded waiting room
In an important meeting on 23–24 June, the European Council granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova and recognized Georgia’s ‘European perspective’ – a nod to the country’s future. The European Union,
Less than a month later, Brussels ended its 8- and 17-year long waits for Albania and North Macedonia, respectively, allowing them for accession negotiations.
This leaves two groups of countries wishing to join the union: on the one hand, the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) who made their visit to the EU summit in 2003. was started. Thessaloniki, Greece, and now find themselves in various accession stages. On the other hand, three countries Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, which submitted applications to join the bloc following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine earlier this year.
laborious access criteria
Such an uncontrolled patchwork illustrates the need for a quicker and more effective accession process. Indeed, countries currently wishing to join the bloc must prove that they are capable of meeting the Copenhagen criteria established by the European Union Council in 1993 in the Danish capital. These include the provision of strong democratic institutions, respect for the rule of law, human rights and protection of minorities.
EU Member States must also demonstrate that they are equipped with a functioning market economy and the institutional and administrative capacity to enforce EU law and regulations or takeovers imposed on Member States.
Once these conditions are met, each of the 27 member states of the European Council must vote for the admission of new members according to a unanimous vote system. So, could the war eventually bring the EU round of expansion if its accession criteria are not improved?
Scholz’s Diplomatic Blitz
There are signs that some are looking to break the impasse. take the german chancellor Olaf Scholzo, who has spent a good part of the summer lobbying to accelerate accession talks for the Western Balkans. On 10–11 June he made a whistle-stop tour of Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria, during which he reiterated the region’s strategic importance to Germany and Bulgaria to block North Macedonia’s access over language and historical disagreements. Reprimanded. On 29 August, Scholz again urged the union to expand in a lecture in Prague: “The center of Europe is moving east,” he said.
Greece has joined the ranks. Writing in Politico Europe on 10 June, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed “the existential importance of integrating the region into the European family” by 2033 – “an ambitious but achievable timeline”. Fulfilling this promise would save aspiring countries from disillusionment, but would also avoid developing “a void for hostile actors” such as Russia or China.
When it comes to an enhanced escalation process, EU member states such as Austria, Italy, Poland and Slovenia have consistently expressed their support for welcoming the Western Balkans.
consensus vs majority
Many agree that it is high time to streamline the merger process, particularly by improving the block’s consensus voting system. In Prague, Scholz said: “Where unanimity is needed today, with each additional member state there is an increased risk of an individual country exercising its veto and preventing all others from proceeding.”
The chancellor announced that he had proposed “a gradual transition to a majority vote in general foreign policy, but also in other areas, such as tax policy – knowing full well that this would have implications for Germany as well”.
In this regard, Scholz reaffirmed his alignment with France, which has repeatedly criticized the consensus. It’s sensible. The excesses of some states’ bargaining power were largely demonstrated by the case of North Macedonia, which was vetoed twice: first by Greece in 2018 on the basis of country names, and then by Bulgaria on the basis of language from 2020. On issues and the Bulgarian ethnic of the country. minority rights. At a time of rising populism, a majority vote will also prevent the outsized arrogance of throwing spanners into the actions of the European Union.
Any talk of reform requires heavy lifting before it can be implemented, as opposed to many treaty changes. Hungary, which has been lobbying for the Western Balkans to join the European Union for years, is one of them. At a council meeting in 2020, Foreign Minister Peter Szzarto described the “proposal that the EU should no longer give unanimous consent to its foreign policy decisions” as “dangerous and contrary to EU treaties”.
Macron’s Two-Tier Europe
Awaiting substantial treaty changes, which would take years of negotiation, one solution might be to adopt a differentiated integration along the lines proposed by the French president. Emmanuel Macron, Speaking at a conference on the future of Europe in Strasbourg on 9 May, he expressed the concept of a European forum that would be separate from the European Union, a “European political community”. Inspired by the initial idea of a European Union by François Mitterrand (1981–1995), the community provides a platform for cooperation on “politics, security, energy, transport, infrastructure investment and the movement of people, especially youth” to European neighbors. will provide a new location.
The idea needs to be refined, however, with the question of who can join the community, the scope of the collaboration, and the decision-making process still up for debate. It is also unclear whether the forum will serve as a substitute for the actual expansion or as an antechamber for it.
But regardless of the form of EU expansion, it is clear that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has brought member states closer together over the past two decades than ever before. Reservations on the majority vote, which ultimately come down to hesitation over trade-offs between EU unity and national sovereignty, will require significant leadership to overcome. Instead of fear and confrontation, member states must now see a sense of community and responsibility for the EU to act as a global player – with urgency and unity.
(The author is Professor of International Negotiation and Diplomacy, IÉSEG School of Management. theconversation.com)