LUXEMBOURG — The EU is developing robust safeguards to ensure future member countries cannot backslide on reforms or use their veto power to obstruct the bloc after joining, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said.
“If the new member state will follow the rules, nothing will happen. If they will not follow the rules, the safeguards will bite hard and this is the system we are building,” Kos told POLITICO in an interview on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
Kos was speaking as the EU opened the first round of detailed accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. At the same time, Montenegro formally completed another two negotiating chapters and moved closer to membership.
The European Commission already “has some ideas” on how to strengthen the system, she said, including safeguards and transition periods before certain membership rights are fully granted. The EU executive is consulting member countries concerned that future enlargements could complicate decision-making or allow governments to reverse reforms after accession.
EU members, including France, Germany and the Netherlands, have argued that any expansion must be accompanied by guarantees that reforms will endure and that new members will not upset the bloc’s balance of power.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron are among those backing a phased approach to European integration, suggesting that other Western Balkan countries, like Albania, be offered economic and political benefits before they become full members.
“What I see now, the change in the last weeks, is more and more leaders in our member states are engaged, bringing the ideas,” Kos added. “I hope that soon we will be able to tell more, but the main idea is, based on our past experiences from some of the member states, we have had problems because the rules [were not] followed anymore.”
Under previous Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Hungary frequently blocked efforts to reach consensus on issues such as sanctions on Russia and used its veto to slow European support for Ukraine. Budapest also saw more than €10 billion in EU funds frozen over accusations that it was breaching its democratic and judicial obligations, a standoff diplomats say they are keen to avoid repeating.
Last month, Montenegro, home to just over 600,000 people, began drafting its EU accession treaty, raising hopes in the country that it could become the first to join the bloc since Croatia in 2013. According to Kos, that treaty will help establish a model for future accessions.
“What will be new this time, and this will be for the first time with the Montenegro accession treaty … will be how to safeguard that once a country is becoming a member of the EU, the rules will be obeyed after five, ten, fifteen years,” she said.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić told POLITICO earlier this month that his country will “not shy away from safeguard mechanisms if they contribute to preserving the credibility of the process and trust among member states,” provided they are clear, predictable and used only when countries genuinely break their commitments.
At the same time, Kos said accession must remain merit-based. Ukraine and Moldova have advanced together so far, but once all negotiating clusters are opened, “the country who will deliver more will be able to go faster.”