EU to propose changes in system for admitting new members in attempt to lift French veto

The European Commission is expected to propose changes in the system devised for admitting new countries in the bloc and give existing members more say in it. In October last year, France vetoed the admission of Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and North Macedonia and later proposed changes to give leaders of member states more say over further expansion.

With the proposed changes, the Commission wants to mollify France’s concern and hopes to persuade it for lifting its objections before a Zagreb summit with Balkan states scheduled to be held in May. French President Emmanuel Macron has been vocal against the “hasty” expansion of European bloc and criticised the process when Romania and Bulgaria joined the group in 2007. 

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Work Programme for 2020

In the 2020 Work Programme adopted by the European Commission, the EU body had called for a stronger Europe in the world in which it said that the Commission will continue to push for the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. It added that the Commission will parallelly seek to keep up the momentum by putting forward ways to enhance the accession process, including on the enlargement methodology and on a reinforced investment framework.

“We will remain committed to upholding, updating and upgrading the rules-based order to make it fit for today's realities,” the programme read.

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Though the proposal is aimed at resolving the concerns of France, it is expected to stop short of some of the demands. France had proposed that the funds for new members should come out of money set aside for poor countries already in the EU but the officials believe that it would jeopardise support from expansion among existing poor members. The changes are expected to be unveiled on February 5 giving the current member states power to put a hold on the process of admitting new countries. Speculations are rife that the changes could even force countries to start the entry talks from scratch.

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(With inputs from agencies)