Accessing the single market but renouncing the right of veto: the EU's proposal for future partners

BrusselsBrussels wants to accelerate the entry of new partners into the European Union. Faced with growing geopolitical instability and the commercial competition posed by actors such as China, the EU executive sees the expansion of the bloc as "an investment in peace, security and stability". But this process has been almost paralyzed for years due to the various blockades imposed by member states and their reluctance.

Now the European Commission wants to make its internal rules more flexible to avoid blockades by member states and proposes renouncing unanimity in accession negotiations. The community institution suggests that a qualified majority should be enough for a candidate state to advance in the so-called "accession chapters". This would overturn the current operation, in which the veto of a single country can block a candidate's accession negotiations. The limitation of vetoes would also extend to certain areas of foreign and fiscal policy related to accession, a field in which member states have been very wary of giving ground.

Thus, Brussels will allow candidate countries access to the common market gradually. The most advanced states such as Albania, Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova will be able to start accessing certain sectors of the single market (energy, transport, digital and defense), receive community funds and participate in EU programs before formal accession. But these privileges will be conditional on the progress of reforms and can be withdrawn in the face of any setback in democratic standards.

Different conditions

The new partners, however, will enter with different conditions than those of the member states. During the first few years, they will not be able to veto or oppose decisions on future EU enlargements or bilateral disputes. In fact, the community executive is proposing the option of suspending the vote of new members in the Council of the EU, the European body that represents the member states. This institutional safeguard would be applied if a state is considered to be in breach of the fundamental values of the EU, as enshrined in Article 2 of the EU Treaty. With this last clause, Brussels satisfies one of the historical demands of the larger states, such as France and Germany, which fear that enlargement could lead to a deadlock in decision-making like the one that occurred with Viktor Orbán's Hungarian government.

There is one case that is particularly worrying due to its economic implications: Ukraine. Due to the large size of its agricultural sector, it could end up taking a large share of the common agricultural policy funds that other countries currently receive. On this point, the European Commission proposes specific arrangements to limit its access to the market for sensitive products and reduce direct financial support, encouraging, for example, Kyiv to export to third markets.