Cordeiro (CoR): “Enlargement a challenge, let’s not talk about problems or concerns”

from the correspondent in Mons – Enlargement as a general principle, and the specific possibile future entry of Ukraine, “are a challenge, of course, but I would not use the term ‘problem’ or ‘concern.” The President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), Vasco Cordeiro, wanted to set the record straight: the decisions taken so far to make Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova on a par with Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are a cause for enrichment. “It’s in everyone’s interest to enlarge”, he said on the occasion of the European 10th European Summit of Cities and Regions.

Ukraine alone is the sources of many concerns, when it comes to enlargement. It is a large country with a gross domestic product below the European average and, looking ahead, a country with a reconstruction-bill to be paid. Having Ukraine onboard could be costly, and woul mean to reconsider the Union’s current agricultural policy (CAP) and the one for the regions (Cohesion). In general, a full-bodied and accelerated enlargement due to the Russian-Ukrainian war and the unpredictability of the international geopolitical scenario raises doubts about the convenience of welcoming new members into the twelve-star club, even in Italy.

Recently, the  Bruegel think-tank tried to do a cost-benefit analysis of Ukraine’s entry alone: It could cost the EU around €136 billion, but in terms of return, the EU would gain in increased workforce and energy security. Today (March 18), the CoR President came to the same conclusion: “There are challenges, but also opportunities,” Cordeiro pointed out.

Cohesion Commissioner Elisa Ferreira also called for calm and being unworried. “We have done it before,” she stressed, referring to the many enlargements experienced in the history of European integration, turning the Union from six to 27 Member States. “We have done it before, and it has always worked,” also thanks partly to cohesion policies, which Ferreira defended and considered as a useful tool for everyone. “Every time we expand, cohesion helps to integrate.” The message coming from Mons is, therefore, not to be afraid.