The Portuguese government this Thursday defended reforms in the European Union (EU) to properly accommodate new countries in the community bloc, with “homework” starting now, a year after Ukraine was granted candidate country status.
“We want to enlarge, but we want to do it right and that means reform and preparation for the accession of new members and implies difficult discussions that we have to start, as we have already taken important decisions on granting candidate status to different states – members”stated 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 Presidency of the EU and is dedicated to the enlargement process, Tiago Antunes stressed that the Union “must do its part”.
“Of course candidate countries have a lot of homework to do, but we also have to do our homework and prepare to welcome new members to the EU and that’s what we’re going to talk about today.”he stressed.
speaking of one “an important day for the EU’s main policy, namely enlargement policy”Tiago Antunes admitted that it is “major challenges” to welcome new countries into the community 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 historic decision to grant candidate country status to Ukraine and Moldova, joining a wider group of countries, some of which had long been in the ‘queue’ to join the European Union. block, 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 and is committed to promoting the democratic values of the community can apply to join the EU, but must submit to a formal negotiation process (unanimously endorsed only by the current member states) to do so ). , followed by the implementation of the necessary judicial, administrative and economic reforms.
The Council, in its General Affairs formation, defines and oversees the EU’s enlargement process and accession negotiations, acting unanimously.
Source: DN
