Kos: EU May Strip New Members of Veto Rights

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has suggested that new EU member states could be deprived of veto rights during the initial period of their membership. According to European Pravda, she made the remarks before the start of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg. When asked whether the EU is considering denying Ukraine veto powers at the beginning of its membership, Kos replied that it is first necessary to “reach the stage where we are negotiating an accession treaty for Ukraine”. She added that the EU must ensure that new member states “will continue to adhere to European rules after 5, 10, or 15 years of membership”. “We are currently preparing this process for Montenegro, so it will take some time before we determine exactly how to do it. But what we know now, and this is why I mention Montenegro’s accession treaty, is that this will be a new generation of accession treaties, in the sense that we will have new safeguard mechanisms that will ensure precisely what you referred to,” the Commissioner said. According to Kos, the EU will discuss the specific arrangements for each candidate country once accession treaty negotiations reach the final stage. Media reports indicate that Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg have called on the EU to examine options for temporarily restricting voting rights for future member states and creating safeguards to ensure continued adherence to the rule of law. Meanwhile, Albania has stated that it is prepared to do “whatever it takes” to join the European Union, even if accession requires temporarily giving up its national veto rights during a probationary period.