Candidate countries to enter the third ring of Europe

European ministers discussed yesterday how to reform the finances and decision-making process in the European Union so that the bloc is ready to receive new members, while the European Commission announced that it will propose that the candidate countries receive additional money and access to the EU single market in order to speed up their preparation for membership.

The aim of the ministerial meeting in the Spanish city of Murcia is to lay the groundwork for the EU summit, which takes place on October 5 and 6.

"Enlargement is one of the biggest challenges facing the Union," said Spanish head of Diplomacy Jose Manuel Albares at a press conference after the meeting. "We need to be ready to expand".

Reuters reminds that eight countries currently have the official status of candidates for joining the EU - Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, while Georgia and Kosovo have the status of potential candidates.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelji said at a press conference that the EU will implement internal reforms simultaneously with the preparations of the candidate countries to meet the complex criteria for joining the EU.

In order to help candidates implement reforms faster, the EC will present a package of measures in the next two weeks that will offer candidates gradual access to the market as well as additional money, Varhelji said.

"In a few weeks, we will present a new way of thinking about enlargement and a package that will now include 10 candidate countries, that is, countries with a European perspective," Varhelji said at a press conference.

Varhelji said that the EU will look for a way to help candidates prepare for EU membership faster through the growth plan for the Western Balkans in order to reduce the "economic and social gap" between these countries and the rest of the EU before accession.

This money will be added to EU funds for pre-accession assistance to candidate countries, which in the EU budget for the period from 2021 to 2027 amounts to a total of 14,2 billion euros.

The measures, as Varhelji said, would show that the EU is ready to welcome new members and would put the responsibility on the candidate countries to take full advantage of these opportunities.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg called on European colleagues to integrate candidates for membership from the Western Balkans earlier in the areas where it is possible, instead of insisting on every comma from the EU acquis, "Politico" reported.

In May 2022, Schallenberg and his colleague Karoline Edstadler, Minister for European Affairs, proposed the gradual integration of the Western Balkans into the EU. Now the two ministers have identified specific areas of policy for the process of gradual integration, according to the document that "Politiko" had access to.

The package of measures, which includes financial aid and access to the single market, would show that the EU is ready to welcome new members and put the responsibility on the candidate countries to fully take advantage of these opportunities, said Varhelji.

"Instead of waiting for every notch in the acquis to be implemented, let's integrate the candidate countries earlier in the policy area where possible," Schallenberg told the Brussels portal.

"With the due focus on the east, we should not make the mistake of forgetting the southeast of Europe," added the Austrian minister.

The document lists "industrial and consumer goods, public procurement and e-commerce", as well as "trade through customs cooperation", critical medicines and some energy and transport sectors as areas in which candidates could be allowed to cooperate before full EU accession. policies".

The backbone of the informal ministerial meeting in Spain is a document prepared by French and German experts calling for a radical reform of the EU's decision-making and financing process before the admission of new members in 2030.

Reuters says the decision-making process is the most important item as the EU now requires unanimity on foreign and security policy, taxes, EU finances, some areas of justice and home affairs, as well as social security and protection.

This has already been criticized by some governments and experts as it significantly slows down or even blocks EU development, since all decisions in these areas must be reduced to the lowest common denominator.

After the meeting, Varhelji said that despite these challenges, the Commission believes that the acceptance of new members will not require changes to the EU charters - which is a potentially long and complex process that also requires unanimity.

In the Franco-German document, it is stated that the EU, in case of admission of new members, would have to change its agricultural and regional policy as well as its budget.

The EU's agricultural policy would have to be reformed because the admission of Ukraine's agricultural power would dramatically change the current direct EU payments to farmers.

The same applies to EU regional policy, according to which poorer EU members receive money from the EU to raise living standards.

Agricultural and regional funds represent two-thirds of the EU budget, which is about one percent of the bloc's gross national income per year. The Franco-German document states that the budget, which for the period 2021-27 amounts to about a billion euros, should be bigger, which is an idea that does not appeal to everyone in the EU.

The document, which divided EU governments when it was first discussed on September 19, states that some EU countries should be allowed to cooperate more closely than others, forming four layers of European integration.

The deepest integration would be in a narrow circle similar to the Eurozone that uses a common currency and the Schengen zone, while the second layer would be the EU itself.

The third, larger ring would consist of Associated Members who would participate in the single market of EU goods and services and adhere to common principles, which is in line with the proposal announced by Varhelji.

The fourth ring would be the European Political Community, a forum proposed by France, as an outer layer for political cooperation without the obligation to abide by EU law.