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In recent weeks, there have been some speculations as to how the European Union can bring countries with similar values closer together, but which currently cannot or do not want to join the EU.
It was Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg who said on April 23, during the media summit in Lech am Arlberg, that “we need to rethink our entire enlargement and neighborhood policy from the beginning.”
According to the Austrian Foreign Minister, when countries are told “yes, you are part of Europe”, this should not be understood and work only through EU membership. He recalled the fact that membership processes, e.g. with the countries of the Western Balkans, have lasted for decades without success. He therefore speaks in favor of “personalized offers for the closest possible connection with Ukraine.”
Schallenberg said that in order to remove countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova from Russia’s orbit, he envisioned a system where they could be integrated into specific areas, such as energy, transport and the internal market, but without becoming official EU members. .
On April 25, former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Italian Social Democrats Enrico Letta spoke in Rome about a “European confederation”. This confederation, according to him, would consist of 27 member states and non-member states, such as Ukraine, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Kosovo, etc. According to him, this model would enable countries that want to join to participate in public life in Europe and continue preparing for the EU.
But more fuss from recent proposals made the proposal of French President Emmanuel Macron. On May 9, Macroni told the European Parliament in Strasbourg and later in Berlin that the European Union could not be the only means of structuring the continent. He proposed a “European political community” for those countries that have not matured for EU membership.
According to Macron, such an approach would allow Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, the Western Balkans and “those who have left the EU” to become part of a political Europe more quickly. “It’s a way to anchor countries that are geographically in Europe and that share our values,” he said. In other words, Macroni proposed a second level of co-operation with the EU, where states would be trained for EU membership.
Reaction in Germany to French ideas of EU enlargement
These proposals at the moment are mere imaginations. But they attract more attention than non-papers, unofficial speculative letters that circulated densely a few years ago, because they were also publicly formulated by political figures in office in the European Union.
In the first reactions in some German media, Macron’s latest proposal was characterized by little chance of being implemented. He was seen in the line of previous proposals of the French president, which are sometimes seen as “water strikes with a mortar”, but which are positive, as preoccupations that want to set Europe in motion. The fate of such proposals ultimately depends on whether there is a majority in the EU and on Berlin’s position.
At a press conference with President Macron in Berlin (May 9), Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed Macron’s proposal as “expressly very interesting” and said it could be discussed. Such support, however cautious, for Macron facing his country’s parliamentary elections, which could weaken his position, could be reassuring for the often-skeptical Frenchman in Europe. In addition, the possibility of a new model approaching the EU politically closer to the UK, which does not want to join the EU, sounds tempting.
But immediately after the evaluation, the German Chancellor said without hesitation that “it is clear that this proposal should not and will not prevent us from advancing what we have started, to enable the membership processes, for which we have worked so long. This is especially true for the Western Balkans. “
Even 10 days later, in the government statement he made (19.05.) Before the Bundestag, Chancellor Scholz said that for Ukraine it is not a short way to the EU “because we have to be fair with the six countries of the Western Balkans”. “The EU must now give to the Western Balkans. “And I am committed to that, through talks to make progress in the negotiations, and to remove the last obstacles within the EU.”
An EU summit on the Western Balkans will be held in June. Without elaborating on his proposal, Emmanuel Macroni also said in Berlin that there are countries that have already started the membership process and are in the process of membership. “I think they have to finish this process; they should not be discouraged. “
Potentially affected states and CDU sympathy
In the current state of discussions, it seems excluded that countries that have been working for years for EU membership, such as Albania and Northern Macedonia, to end up in a new EU training ground. But if Macron’s proposals are supported, as well as similar proposals, in the “second league” of the EU, in a kind of “European Union light”, can enter not only Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, but also Balkan countries such as Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They would stay there, closer to the EU than if they simply had a “privileged partnership” until they were ready for membership. The largest German opposition party, the CDU, expressed sympathy for this proposal yesterday in the Bundestag. The leader of this party, Friedrich Merz asked the government to position itself on the French proposals.
Traditional interests of states and new reality
The discussion of EU membership was reopened by Ukraine’s application for EU membership, following the Russian attack on it. It is not ruled out that at the end of June Ukraine will receive candidate status for EU membership. The war of Russian aggression against Ukraine has emphasized the geopolitical aspect in the EU, the desire to be protected even within the borders of the community.
But the current proposals also have a background in the interests of EU countries. Following the collapse of the communist system, an eastward enlargement of the EU was expected to weaken France’s dominant position in the European Union. Geographical proximity and economic power would make Germany the EU’s largest power.
To avoid this, French President François Mitterrand proposed in 1989 a “European confederation” with two rapprochements, in which he wanted Russia to join. But the resistance of the eastern states to re-enter under one roof with Russia was one of the factors in the failure of his concept.
Now times have changed. The fact that other models are being sought to bring closer to the EU even countries that do not want to join the EU, such as. The UK is positive. The ideas presented however are in the initial stage. If they succeed, that’s very open at the moment./ DW
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