If you want to be admitted to the EU, you have to make a lot of reforms in order to meet the criteria. Chancellor Scholz is now demanding that the EU also change in order to shorten decades-long accession processes.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is calling for EU reforms to make it easier for new members to be admitted.
Not only the candidates for accession, but also the EU itself must prepare for an enlargement of the Union, said the SPD politician in an interview with the German Press Agency. “To do this, it must modernize its structures and decision-making processes. It will not always be possible to decide everything unanimously that has to be decided unanimously today.” He wants to talk about this at the EU summit next Thursday and Friday.
At the summit, the heads of state and government of the 27 member states will deal with the membership applications of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The EU Commission has recommended that Ukraine and Moldova be declared official candidate countries. Scholz also spoke out clearly in favor of this during his visit to Kyiv last Thursday.
Candidate status can only be granted with a unanimous vote. There have been discussions in the EU about relaxing the principle of unanimity for a long time. The problem: the heads of state and government would have to decide unanimously on a corresponding reform. A week ago, the European Parliament asked the EU states to approve a constitutional convention for comprehensive reforms of the EU. Parliament is calling for the principle of unanimity to be abandoned in almost all policy areas.
Scholz wants negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia
Scholz called on the EU to make the decision on Ukraine’s candidate status in a “spirit of unity”. “It is clear that the path to the EU will not be easy, but that many requirements have to be met by every candidate who wants to set off,” Scholz also emphasized. “This affects the rule of law and democracy, but also all other rules that we have given each other in Europe.”
The Chancellor also hopes that the summit will give a boost to the states of the Western Balkans, which have been waiting for EU membership for almost two decades. «We have to show the countries of the Western Balkans that we are serious. Albania and North Macedonia meet all the requirements for starting concrete negotiations on EU accession – they should start now.”
G7 summit to strengthen cooperation between democracies
The EU summit is the start of a series of three summit meetings within a week. The meetings of the G7 and NATO follow. In the “Group of Seven”, in which economically strong democracies have joined forces, Germany holds the presidency. Scholz is hosting the summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria.
He wants to focus on strengthening cooperation between democracies worldwide. “It would be a special success if the summit could be the starting point for a new look at the world of democracy,” said Scholz in the dpa interview. The understanding of democracy does not go far enough if one concentrates on the classic West, i.e. the states of the “Group of Seven”. In addition to Germany, it includes the USA, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy and Japan.
“We have to look at the whole globe”
“The big, powerful democracies of the future are in Asia, Africa and the south of America and will be our partners,” said Scholz, who is hosting the G7 summit from June 26-28. “We have to look at the whole globe and not only have a reduced view of Europe, North America and Japan.” That’s why he deliberately invited five guests: the heads of state and government of Indonesia, India, South Africa, Senegal and Argentina.
In 30 years the world will have even more power centers than today. “If we manage to get this world to work together and democracies to play a central role, that’s a big step forward,” said the Chancellor. Germany holds the rotating presidency of the group of economically strong democracies this year.
Source: Stern
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