The European Commission missed an opportunity with its new approach to managing EU enlargement, adopted on Wednesday (5 February).
Instead of taking a hard look at why the current procedure for admitting new members is failing, the commission has tried to appease the most vocal opponent of enlargement – France – with largely cosmetic changes.
The new approach appears likely to achieve its immediate aim, which is to get France to drop its veto against opening membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania.
Nathalie Loiseau, France’s former Europe minister who is now president Emmanuel Macron’s spokeswoman in the European Parliament, warmly welcomed the proposal when it was presented to MEPs by enlargement commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, although she also warned “What counts is what’s actually happening, not what’s written on a piece of paper.”
What the new approach does not achieve, however, is to address the shortcomings of the policy itself, which has been in crisis for some time.
Despite meeting the EU’s conditions for starting membership talks, North Macedonia and Albania were blocked by France (supported, in the case of Albania, by the Netherlands and Denmark).
Serbia and Montenegro have been negotiating membership for six and eight years, respectively, with no end in sight and amid considerable backsliding on rule of law and democratic practices in Serbia and little positive change in Montenegro.
