Deepening EU integration in view of future enlargement
TA-9-2024-0120 · P9_TA(2024)0120 · PE752.948
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Parliament's resolution says enlargement is a strategic priority and a merit-based process with no fast-track or pre-defined deadlines. It welcomes opening accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, candidate status for Georgia, and negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once compliance is achieved.¶¶¶ It asks for stronger monitoring of fundamental values, alignment with the EU's common foreign and security policy including sanctions, and better scrutiny of pre-accession funding.¶¶¶ It calls for EU institutional and financial reforms before enlargement: more qualified majority voting, reform of Article 7, a revised multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034, and a stronger role for Parliament.¶¶¶ It proposes gradual integration into common policies for candidate countries, observer status in EU bodies, and a separate Commissioner for Enlargement.¶¶¶
Key points
- Welcomes the aspiration of European countries to join the EU and acknowledges their political will and efforts to meet membership requirements.¶
- Says enlargement is of the utmost strategic importance and a geostrategic investment in peace, democracy, stability, security, climate protection and prosperity.¶
- Welcomes the Commission's 2023 enlargement package recommendations and the European Council's decisions to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, grant Georgia candidate status, and open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once compliance is achieved.¶
- Reiterates that Türkiye's EU accession process cannot be resumed in the current circumstances and urges a realistic parallel framework of cooperation.¶
- Underlines that accession must be merit-based, with the rule of law, democratic reform, media freedom and human rights at the forefront, and no short-cuts on EU values.¶
- Requests enhanced monitoring of fundamental values and EU financial interests, including candidate countries in the EU rule of law mechanism and annual reporting.¶
- Insists that alignment with the EU's common foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia, is essential for accession.¶
- Stresses there can be no fast-track or pre-defined deadlines for membership, but expects the first candidate countries to be ready to join by the end of this decade.¶
- Calls for reversible accession processes, with negotiations frozen in the event of backsliding on fundamental values and resumed after significant progress.¶
- Calls for improved consistency, efficiency and transparency of pre-accession assistance, stricter accountability, a mid-term review of the IPA III Regulation, and listing Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia as beneficiaries.¶
- Proposes an incremental pathway to membership with gradual integration into common policies, access to EU funds, and clear graduation and reversibility clauses.¶
- Calls for EU institutional and financial reforms before enlargement, including more qualified majority voting, reform of Article 7, a revised multiannual financial framework for 2028-2034, and a stronger role for Parliament.¶¶¶
Who is affected
- Candidate and potential candidate countries, which must meet the Copenhagen criteria and align with EU foreign policy.¶¶
- EU institutions and member states, which are asked to undertake institutional and financial reforms before enlargement.¶¶¶
- The Commission, which is asked to improve pre-accession assistance and present proposals on incremental accession methodology.¶¶
- Türkiye, whose accession process cannot be resumed in the current circumstances.¶
Figures and deadlines
Legal basis: Articles 5(3), 48 and 49 of the Treaty on European Union¶