VIDEO // European Commissioner for Enlargement, ahead of Luxembourg meeting: "Candidate countries are fulfilling their commitments. Let us prepare to welcome new members"

The European Union must prepare to welcome new members, as candidate countries advance in the accession process. European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has made statements to this effect ahead of the intergovernmental meetings in Luxembourg. The official stressed that enlargement involved both candidate countries fulfilling their commitments and the Union preparing to operate efficiently after their accession.

„Today, we will hold three more Intergovernmental Conferences, and at the conclusion of the last one, namely the conference with Albania, Moldova and Ukraine, we will reach a total of 22 Intergovernmental Conferences during the mandate of the current European Commission. I am very pleased, as this shows that the candidate countries are fulfilling their commitments, but it also proves that we must do our part of the work, in order to manage these processes. Therefore, it is important to capitalize on this momentum, at a time when enlargement is advancing, and to prepare to welcome the new members”, Marta Kos said.

The European Commissioner said that last week she had presented the so-called pre-accession assessment, which sets out the steps to be taken to welcome new members into the EU, and highlighted three aspects:

„First of all, we must ensure that, once they become members, the new countries will respect the rules. I am referring here to safeguards meant to protect our democracy and, hopefully, prevent democratic backsliding. Secondly, we need a more flexible decision-making process. In these sometimes unpredictable  geopolitical times, we need to be more agile. Therefore, we are proposing more measures to make more frequent use of qualified majority voting. The third aspect is also very important: we must respect the principle of merit-based accession, which is essential”, Marta Kos explained.

According to the European official, candidate countries will be included in the European Centre for Democratic Resilience as an example of gradual integration before accession itself.

„What we will do today, and this makes me very pleased, is an example of successful enhanced gradual integration: we will include the candidate countries in the European Centre for Democratic Resilience. Why is this so important? We are, in fact, facing the same problems related to hybrid attacks and disinformation. If we cooperate even before accession, I believe we will be able to manage these challenges very effectively”, Marta Kos stressed.





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The European Commissioner stressed that candidate countries could participate in certain Union systems before accession, if they meet the necessary conditions.

„If a country succeeds in adopting all necessary measures to become part of a subsystem or system of the European Union, we could integrate it into that system even before accession itself”, the European Commissioner specified.

Marta Kos noted that enlargement must strengthen the European Union and ensure respect for the rule of law.

„As the enlargement process gains momentum, we will discuss with our member states how to ensure that the European Union becomes stronger as it expands. That is precisely why, we have proposed stronger safeguard mechanisms to guarantee respect for the rule of law and the continuation of reforms, so that the Union can operate more efficiently”, Marta Kos said.





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Moldova will officially open accession negotiations with the European Union for Cluster 2 – Internal Market and Cluster 3 – Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth, during the fourth Moldova–EU Intergovernmental Conference, which will take place in Luxembourg today. The 27 member states of the European Union have confirmed the convening of the meeting.