New countries could join the European Union without full voting rights, which could make leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban more open to the idea of Ukraine becoming part of the bloc, writes "Politico", BTA reported.
The proposal to change the rules for EU membership is at an early stage of consideration and would have to be approved by all current member states, notes "Politico", citing three European diplomats and an EU official familiar with the discussions. The idea is that new members will gain full rights after the EU overhauls its way of working to make it harder for individual countries to veto union policies.
It is the latest attempt by pro-European governments to breathe life into the enlargement process, which is currently blocked by Budapest and several other capitals over concerns that it could lead to unwanted competition in local markets or compromise security interests. The European Commission, the Nordic and Baltic states, and the countries of Central Europe have traditionally been in favor of enlargement.
The EU has made enlargement a strategic priority amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's expansionist agenda, although efforts to increase the number of members from the current 27 to 30 over the next decade have exposed internal divisions within the bloc.
"Future members should be obliged to give up their veto rights until key institutional reforms, such as the introduction of qualified majority voting in most policy areas, have been implemented," said Anton Hofreiter, chairman of the European Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag. "Enlargement must not be held back by individual EU member states blocking reforms."
The initiative would allow countries currently on the path to membership, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Montenegro, to enjoy many of the benefits of EU membership but without the right of veto – something EU governments have always valued as the best means of preventing EU policies they do not like.
The idea behind the proposal – which is being discussed informally between EU countries and the Commission, according to the same diplomats and officials – is that admitting new countries without veto rights at least at the start of their membership would allow them to join on more flexible terms, without having to revise the EU's basic treaties, which several governments consider impossible.
EU leaders have previously insisted that such a revision is necessary before the bloc can admit new members such as Ukraine, highlighting the risk of increasing deadlock in Brussels. Attempts to remove the veto right for existing EU members have met strong resistance, however, not only from Hungary but also from France and the Netherlands.
The plan to admit new members without full voting rights would "guarantee that we remain able to act even in an enlarged EU", Hofreiter said. "From discussions with representatives of the Western Balkan countries, I am getting clear signals that this approach is considered constructive and viable."
The demand that new countries not be allowed to join until the EU reforms the way it functions risks leading to "slowing down enlargement through the back door", he said.
The pressure coincides with growing discontent in candidate countries in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, which have undertaken deep internal reforms but are no closer to membership years after applying. In Montenegro's case, EU accession talks began in 2012.
"The last country to join [the EU] was Croatia more than 10 years ago - and in the meantime the UK has left," Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic told "Politico". "That's why I think now is the time to revive the process, and also to revive a little bit the idea of the EU as a club that still has a pull."
Earlier this month, EU countries rejected an attempt by European Council President Antonio Costa to continue with enlargement, Politico reports.
The leaders of the Western Balkan countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia - will meet with European leaders on Wednesday in London for a summit of the "Berlin Process" initiative, focused on accelerating integration between these nations as a precursor to EU enlargement.