Under the plan under discussion, the conditions for accession will be presented to candidate countries in the form of a ‘take it or leave it’ ultimatum, with no right to challenge or renegotiate them. The main aim of the reform is to protect the European Union from a repeat of the ‘Hungarian scenario’, where a single state uses its right of veto to block pan-European decisions.
For 15 years following accession, new EU members will be subject to special scrutiny. In the event of a departure from fundamental democratic values or a breach of the principle of sincere cooperation, Brussels will be able to swiftly strip such a country of its voting rights in the Council of the EU, as well as freeze payments to it from the common European budget.
Montenegro is expected to be the first country to which the updated rules will apply. In future, it is planned to automatically extend this framework to negotiations with other candidate countries, including Albania, Moldova and Ukraine.
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
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