The European Union is considering temporarily limiting veto power for future member states to simplify the blocʼs enlargement process.
This is reported by The Guardian, citing diplomatic sources.
These are decisions in the field of foreign policy, taxes, and other issues that currently require unanimous consent from all EU members.
The idea is being discussed against the backdrop of the May accession negotiations with Montenegro, which is considered one of the main candidates and expects to become the 28th member of the EU by 2028. In the future, such a mechanism may be applied to other candidates, including Moldova and Ukraine.
The reason for the discussion was the experience with Hungary, which repeatedly blocked important EU decisions due to the pro-Russian position of then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban, for example, a €90 billion loan to Ukraine.
At the same time, Brussels recognizes that temporarily limiting the veto right is a legally sensitive step, as the EU does not want to create the impression of a "second-class membership".
What are Ukraineʼs successes on its path to the EU?
Ukraine intensified cooperation with the EU in 2014, after the victory of the Revolution of Dignity. In the same year, the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament simultaneously approved the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
It entered into full force on September 1, 2017. Ukraineʼs path to membership in the European Union and NATO was enshrined in the Constitution in February 2019.
On February 28, 2022, Ukraine applied for membership in the European Union. On June 17, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine candidate status for EU membership and set out a number of conditions that the country must meet before starting negotiations on EU membership. On June 23, EU leaders gathered in Brussels for a summit, where they granted Ukraine candidate status.
At the end of 2023, the European Union allowed negotiations to begin. They were formally launched in 2024, but the process slowed down, in particular due to the position of then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who blocked the opening of negotiation clusters.
In May, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed an associate membership format without voting rights, but President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the idea, stating that Ukraineʼs membership should be full and equal.
Babelʼs sources reported that Ukraine expected to open the first cluster for entry on May 26, and the rest in June.
Author: Olha Shendetska
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