German newspaper: Greater speed and flexibility in EU enlargement would help ease frustrations of Western Balkan countries

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful's ideas for reforming the European Union (EU) are good, but their timing is wrong, and the proposal for gradual integration of candidate countries into the EU misses the point, writes the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau (FR).

The daily notes that greater speed and flexibility in EU enlargement "would help alleviate the frustrations, for example, of the Western Balkan countries over the lack of progress."

"But Vadeful's proposals do not get to the heart of the problem. It would make sense to expand the strict rules for the entry of new members with instruments that would allow sanctions for violations of the Union's fundamental provisions even after accession. This would probably prevent the anti-democratic policies of some like (Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor) Orban," writes FR.

When it comes to Ukraine's accession after the end of the war with Russia, the difficulties are, according to the FR, completely different.

"Admitting such a large country would dramatically shift the balance in the EU. The less developed agriculture of that Eastern European country would tie up significant European funds, which would suddenly become unavailable to others," says FR.

On May 6, German Foreign Minister Wadeful presented his conservative, Christian Democratic CDU's plan for EU reform at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, highlighting the main change as the abolition of the principle of consensus in foreign policy and security issues, and the gradual integration of candidate countries into the Union, up to full membership.

Regarding Wadeful's main proposal, the abolition of consensus, the Frankfurter Rundschau writes that "the EU currently has to deal with other challenges, not the problem of unanimous decision-making that Minister Wadeful would like to abolish."

As an example, the daily cites the punitive tariffs of United States President Donald Trump, which the entire EU wants to act against, but for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, this "is not happening fast enough since the tariffs are hitting the German automotive industry particularly hard."

"Such a policy guided by national interests has disappointed many in Brussels. They expected more when the new German Chancellor came to power a little over a year ago," writes FR.

Recalling that Germany led the way in "diluting" the supply chain law and in the planned ban on internal combustion engines, the daily assesses that a chancellor who behaved in a European manner would likely increase the chances of Wadeful's initiative.

"And here begins the difficult part. In order to abolish the principle of consensus in EU foreign policy, so that the alliance is more capable of acting in times of crisis and is no longer held back by a prime minister like Orban, Vadefül needs a majority of votes in the EU. The same is true with his proposal for the gradual admission of new members to the EU," the daily assesses.

"But smaller states in particular, like Malta and Cyprus, but also Ireland, Portugal and others, are skeptical about abolishing consensus. They are worried that in the future their opinion will not be taken into account because larger, more influential states will simply outvote them."

The paper points out that the European Union is designed as a "consensus machine", which sometimes takes a long time, but ensures unity and takes all members into account. The paper adds that there are reservations in both Wadeful's conservative CDU party and the European People's Party (EPP) party family.

"By qualified majority, the European Union would probably vote for sanctions against Israel, against the will of Berlin," which prevented such a decision, the newspaper estimates.