The Portuguese government defended this Thursday reforms in the European Union (EU) to correctly receive the new countries of the community block, with the “duties” starting now, a year after the granting of candidate country status to Ukraine.
“We want enlargement, but we want to get it right and that means reforming and preparing for new members and it involves difficult discussions that we have to start having, as we have already made important decisions about granting candidate status to several states. members”, declared the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Tiago Antunes.
At the entrance to the informal meeting of the General Affairs Council, which takes place in Stockholm under the Swedish EU presidency and which is dedicated to the enlargement process, Tiago Antunes stressed that the Union must “do its part”.
“It is clear that the candidate countries have a lot of homework to do, but we also have to do our homework and prepare to receive the new members in the EU and that is what we are going to start discussing today,” he stressed.
Speaking on an “important day for the main policy of the EU, which is the enlargement policy”, Tiago Antunes admitted “great challenges” to welcome new countries to the EU bloc, “in terms of the budget of the European Union and in terms of the institutional framework”.
In mid-2022, EU member states took a landmark decision to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, joining a broader group of countries, some of which have been in the “waiting queue”. for a long time to join the European bloc, without any progress. in recent years.
This list now includes Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, North Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Enlargement is the process by which states join the EU after meeting political and economic requirements.
Any European state that respects the democratic values of the community and is committed to promoting them can apply to join the EU, but to do so it must undergo a formal negotiation process (which is only unanimously endorsed by the current member states), followed by of the implementation of the necessary judicial, administrative and economic reforms.
The Council, in its General Affairs formation, establishes and oversees the EU enlargement process and accession negotiations, acting unanimously.
Source: TSF
