Proposal for reform of the EU enlargement process: New members to give up veto rights on decisions made by consensus...?

New members of the European Union (EU) should, upon admission, waive their veto rights on decisions made by consensus in the Union, and there is also the possibility of being denied financial resources if they regress in the area of ​​the rule of law or threaten the interests of the Union, according to a proposal for reform of the EU enlargement process, which was reviewed by the Berlin-based portal table.media.

The portal writes that, according to the draft reform, an arrangement whereby a new EU member state would temporarily waive its veto rights could take the form of a declaration that would accompany the membership treaty.

Part of the reform are additional safeguard mechanisms that would be applied to new EU members that show serious setbacks, writes table media. Using this mechanism, the EU would have the right to withhold financial resources from a new member for a limited period.

The reason for this, the portal writes, would be "unequivocal indicators, or a serious risk" that there are deficiencies in the rule of law, violations of the EU's common values, inefficient management of EU funds and endangerment of its financial interests.

The draft reforms also envisage the possibility for the European Commission to propose that a new EU member state be temporarily suspended from decision-making in the European Council and the Council of the EU, specifically the deprivation of voting rights, table.media writes.

The draft reforms were prepared by EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who says a larger EU requires both faster and more efficient decision-making. Kos plans to present the draft, titled "Pre-Enlargement Policy Analysis," on September 30th.

As part of steps to speed up decision-making in the new, potentially much larger EU, it is envisaged that decisions will be made by qualified majority, instead of consensus, whenever possible.

It is added that the simplest way to do this is to use the so-called "passerelle" clauses, that is, to use the possibility of more flexible decision-making without amending the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which provides for mandatory unanimous decision-making in foreign and security policy and certain financial issues.

The draft states that this would strengthen the EU's ability to respond to strategic challenges, including issues such as sanctions, human rights, common security and defense.

However, there would also be a built-in "handbrake" that allows a member state to refer a disputed issue to the European Council. The Ioannina mechanism is also mentioned, which stipulates what percentage of the total EU population and the number of EU members is needed to block a decision.

The Commission also wants to prepare the main EU institutions for the new, larger Union. One proposal is to reduce the number of members of the European Commission to two-thirds of the number of member states, meaning that each country would not have its own European Commissioner as before.

The European Council should adopt a rotation system that reflects demographic and geographical diversity. As for the European Parliament, which currently has 720 members, Marta Kos believes that it has the capacity to accommodate a larger number of members, but she also assesses that this will not be the case forever.

Table.media writes that the European Commission originally planned to present an EU reform proposal a year ago, but is delayed due to "a delicate balancing act between the concerns of current member states and the sensitivities of potential future members."

In her State of the Union address on Wednesday, September 16, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to address the question of how the EU should prepare for new member states, 13 years after the last enlargement. Enlargement will also be a topic at the October EU summit, when reports on the progress of candidate countries on their European path are also expected, table.media writes.