Charles Michel sees enlargement of the Union necessary to avert risk of a “new iron curtain”

Brussels – On May 1, the EU will celebrate 20 years since its biggest enlargement. In 2004, 10 states (Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) joined the Union. In an interview on Le Soir daily, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, recalled the historic event focusing on the entry of the current candidate countries, setting a date of 2030.

“By 2030, both the European Union and the candidate states must be ready,” Michel said, warning that “procrastinating on new entries would be a terrible mistake.” The challenge is twofold: on the one hand, for countries that want to enlarge the club of the 27 Member States, there is the need to comply with the democratic and economic parameters that the EU demands; on the other, there is the need to find the agreement and willingness of the Member States to advance the Union’s enlargement.

2004 marked the reunification of a divided continent as we welcomed ten new EU member states.

20 years on, war is back in Europe.

The next wave of enlargement is once again a date with history, a geopolitical imperative. https://t.co/NXa1rxFwoD

— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) April 29, 2024

Michel argues that the 2004 enlargement was vital for the EU: “The countries in the eastern part would have been otherwise targeted today by political and ideological attempts by the Kremlin to occupy them.” A far-sighted choice that promoted economic development in the EU and the individual states that joined 20 years ago. Likewise, according to the President of the European Council, having stable and prosperous nations on the borders of the Union is in Europe’s interest. Similarly, today, like 10 years ago, President Michel sees expanding the number of member countries as “vital for the future of the EU. Not doing so exposes us to the risk of a new iron curtain along the eastern flank.”

Even though the invasion of Ukraine gave the impetus to stir up the EU’s latent enlargement policy, some member countries are still skeptical. Chief among them is Hungary, which, starting in July, will hold the presidency of the European Council for the next six months. Michel is not worried, however, because “I feel that the vast majority of leaders are absolutely convinced that enlargement is important for our future.”

There are currently nine countries with candidate status: North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Turkey. In addition, Kosovo has applied for membership in 2022 but still does not have candidate status. Each of these states has difficulties that complicate the path to accession: Turkey (which has been a candidate since 1999) is worrying due to democratic aspects; for Georgia, what troubles Brussels is the economic situation and rampant corruption, while Kosovo is even not recognized by some EU members such as Spain. The path to enlargement, therefore, promises to be long and complex.