Countries split over plans for two-tier EU

BRUSSELS — Countries that have waited years to join the EU are divided over plans being drawn up in Brussels to let them become members without the customary full voting rights. Among the handful of nations in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans in line to join the bloc, a split is emerging over the conditions attached to their applications. Some insist they should get the bloc’s full benefits — whereas others are happy just to be around the table. To appease concerns from existing members that a bigger EU would make it harder to take unanimous decisions, the European Commission is mulling granting new members full voting rights only after the EU has overhauled the way it functions. Advertisement The push would make it more difficult for individual countries to wield their vetoes and would stop policies from being derailed. At present, new members get full voting rights straightaway, as happened when the most recent country to join the EU, Croatia, entered in 2013. Among the powers that could initially be limited is the right of new entrants to block sanctions, among other issues that currently require every EU country to be on board. Navigating around veto threats from populist governments in Hungary and Slovakia has proven time-consuming for leaders. The prospect of joining without full voting rights is drawing mixed reactions from candidate countries. Edi Rama, prime minister of Albania — which has now opened all of the so-called negotiating clusters it will have to work through — told POLITICO the measures are a “good idea” and that his country would even accept for a period of time not having a commissioner of its own in Brussels. Albania, he said, did not want to challenge the will of big founding members such as France and Germany. “At the end, they are the adults in the family who make the important decisions,” he said, adding that one advantage for smaller EU members is that if the bigger countries “fuck up,” it’s not the new members’ fault. Salome Zourabichvili, the last directly elected president of Georgia, said she had long advocated such a move in discussions with EU officials. Her role was abolished by the ruling Georgian Dream party in a move decried by Brussels, and accession talks have now ground to a halt amid warnings of democratic backsliding. Advertisement “As a small country, it’s very clear our interest is to be part of a community, of a family, and be part of the programs that make up the EU, and not at all to be an equal decision-maker as countries that have been at the origin of this organization and are much more powerful,” Zourabichvili told POLITICO. “I think it’s very logical if you want to have an organization that can take decisions efficiently.” Edi Rama, prime minister of Albania said the measures are a “good idea” and that his country would even accept for a period of time not having a commissioner of its own in Brussels. |...

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