EU enlargement: European Commission tables reforms to prepare bloc for new members

The European Commission wants to inject new momentum into its enlargement process , which has seen some candidate countries waiting for decades to join.

Albania , Montenegro , Moldova and Ukraine are currently the frontrunners to join the bloc, with EU officials expressing the hope that Montenegro could do so as early as 2028.

"A larger union is a long-term investment in Europe's peace, security and prosperity ," Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos told journalists in Strasbourg on October 6.

One key question is how the EU can take in more countries in the near future without becoming harder to run or running the risk of democratic backsliding in new member states.

The Commission's answer to this question is to simultaneously require candidate countries to meet EU standards and get the bloc itself to reform by removing obstacles in the accession process and protecting its democratic values.

One of the main stumbling blocks in accession negotiations so far has been the need for unanimous decisions across all 27 members. In the past, individual states have often blocked a candidate's progress because of bilateral issues.

The delays caused by Hungary's blocking of Ukraine's negotiation process are a prominent example.

Now — and not for the first time — the Commission is recommending that member states move away from the principle of unanimity for decisions like the opening of negotiation clusters, replacing it with qualified majority voting.