Countries that have been waiting years to join the EU are divided over plans being worked on in Brussels to allow them to become members without the usual full voting rights.
Some of the candidates for membership from Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans insist on receiving all the benefits of the bloc, while others would be "happy just to be at the table," writes Brussels-based portal Politiko today.
To allay concerns among current members that a larger EU would make unanimous decisions more difficult, the European Commission is considering the possibility of granting new members full voting rights only after the Union overhauls the way it functions. This would make it harder for individual members to use their veto power and prevent EU policies from being blocked.
Incidentally, the plan to reduce voting rights was launched late last year by officials and pro-EU governments to revive the enlargement process, which is also being blocked by Budapest and some other capitals due to fears that it would bring unwanted competition to local markets or threaten security interests.
Hungary has repeatedly threatened to veto Ukraine's accession to the EU.
Among other issues that require the involvement of all EU countries, the new members could initially have limited rights to block sanctions, given that EU leaders are currently wasting time dealing with veto threats from populist governments in Hungary and Slovakia.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told Politiko that Brussels' idea is a good one and that his country, which has opened all negotiation clusters in a short period of time, would even agree to not have its own European Commissioner for a period of time.
As he said, Albania does not want to challenge the will of large founding members, such as France and Germany.
"Ultimately, the adults in the family make the important decisions," Rama said, adding that one advantage of smaller members is that if the larger ones make mistakes, it won't be the new countries' fault.
Salome Zurabishvili, Georgia's last directly elected president, said she had advocated such an approach in talks with EU officials. The ruling Georgian Dream party has since abolished its role, a move condemned by Brussels, and membership talks with the country have been halted over the threat of democratic backsliding.
"As a small country, it is clear that it is in our interest to be part of the community, the family, part of the EU program, and not to be equal decision-makers like countries that have been there from the beginning and are much more powerful," said Zurabishvili, adding that this is logical if you want to have an organization that can make decisions effectively.
Moldova, whose membership application is linked to Ukraine's, wants to see the details of the EU proposal first.
A senior Moldovan official told Politico on condition of anonymity that Moldova would be happy to participate in discussions on this issue in the EU.
"At the same time, full membership, with equal rights and full participation in EU decision-making, must remain a clear and ultimate goal," the official said.
Ukraine is not quite ready to support Brussels' idea either. "If we are talking about EU membership, it must be full-fledged," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in November.
Montenegro, which has made the most progress on its path to membership, also claims there is no need to review the conditions and expects the pre-accession process to be completed this year.
Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović told Politiko that the EU already had 28 members, before Brexit.
"In that sense, if Montenegro becomes the 28th member of the EU by 2028, the answer (to the question of whether there is a need for reforms) is no... But this is a question that EU leaders need to answer," Milatović said.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Cos told Politico that concrete proposals would be put forward in February or March.
She added that "a completely new element" imposes urgency. "We have external destructive forces that would like to see us fail, they are working against our candidates, but we (the EU) are their main target," Kos said.
According to her, the Commission will need to develop a detailed plan on reduced voting rights for new members before presenting it to national leaders and before it is likely to be a topic at European Council summits. The issue also needs to be assessed by lawyers to see how it fits into EU treaties.
The European Commissioner also said that, although the candidates are deep into the reforms required for membership, there is still work to be done to convince existing members that sufficient safeguards will be in place.
"Negotiations are the technical part, we need to consider the political part, and that is up to the member states," said Marta Kos.
Bonus video:
