Good Morning. Angela Skujins here on Monday newsletter duties, with the pitfalls and processes of enlarging the European Union is stealing the focus in the Belgian capital.
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My whipsmart colleague Luca Bertuzza has an exclusive out this morning looking at how the European Commission is tweaking proposals to reform the cumbersome method.
This is because, according to his reporting, the gamut of proposals put forward by the capitals has sidelined the EU executive. As it currently stands, the 27 capitals need to provide unanimous support for the opening and closing of any of the 35 policy chapters. This allows one member state to thwart the negotiations.
Membership lite. One buzzy idea to improve this was German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pitching “associate membership” statuswhich is shorthand for an EU aspirant country joining the bloc but not getting all the perks.
It was vehemently opposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy then and now, whose country has been seeking to join the EU since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The reason? He said he didn’t want symbolic membership for Ukraine, as soldiers and civilians were not symbolically being killed by Russia.
The Commission has been speaking to the other capitals about their ideas for rejigging the process with a clear deadline. “We are looking forward to the upcoming strategic discussion on enlargement and reforms at the EUCO meeting in October this year,” a spokesperson said, according to Luca’s story. More on that must-read exclusive reporting below.
Vsevolod Chentsov, Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union, just weighed-in on the debate on Euronews’ flagship morning news program, Europe Today. He said there should be less talk on the title and more on substance.
“There were several ideas how to get Ukraine closer, and I think we just need to work together and to make sure that Ukraine already feels benefit of benefits of enlargement already on this stage,” he said. Watch.
Euronews’ Sasha Vakulina reports that the need for Ukraine to join has never been so urgent, with Russia launching waves of missiles and drones at the capital of Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight, killing at least ten people and wounding dozens.
The attack involved waves of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones, with explosions echoing across the city as civilians sheltered in metro stations. It came just hours after Zelenskyy warned that Moscow was preparing a new large‑scale strike timed between US Independence Day and the NATO summit in Ankara.
Zelenskyy has urged allies to accelerate deliveries of air defense missiles, particularly for Patriot systems, warning that any delay “means the loss of lives”. Sasha has a story on how this NATO summit could make or break support for Kyiv.
Going cold Türkiye. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is among a gaggle of senior EU officials heading to Türkiye for this annual NATO summit in Ankara from Tuesday to Wednesday. Defense spending, support for Ukraine and transatlantic security are expected to dominate talks.
It’s assumed US President Donald Trump will ask the 32 alliance members how they are meeting the alliance’s 3.5% of GDP spending target, as promised last year. But as my colleague Shona Murray scooped last week, the final declaration from the two-day talks should include an iron clad commitment to Article 5, aka an attack on one is an attack on all.
The meeting comes at an increasingly difficult time for von der Leyen, with many wondering how she is going to smooth over a major geopolitical gaffe made in April about the host country.
According to media reports, she said during a public event in Hamburg that Europe must succeed in completing the continent so that it is not influenced by Russia, Türkiye or China.
To recap: Türkiye has been an EU accession country since 1999, with negotiations formally starting in 2005. Von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa will sit down with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of the Republic of Türkiye, on the final day of the NATO summit on Wednesday to possibly explain this blunder.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was sent in last week with a top team of EU officials to discuss a menu of strategic topics, such as trade and security. But many saw this as the first step to paper over the mistake.
Hit the reset button. German MEP Engin Eroglu, who is of Turkish descent, told me this meeting could go beyond the “quarrels of the past”. According to him, this meeting could elevate the relationship, deepening Ankara’s relationship with Europe particularly with the supply of weapons and military capabilities.
Only time will tell how this meeting will actually go down, and where the leaders will sit.
Also to watch: EU countries have less than 10 days to agree on a new package of sanctions against Russia before the bloc automatically updates its price cap on July 15, Euronews’ sanctions expert Jorge Liboreiro offers in this dispatch.
Under the formula set up last year, the price cap must be adjusted every six months to remain 15% below the average market price of Urals crude.
Urals soared in the aftermath of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, meaning the upcoming revision would likely push the cap from the current $44 per barrel to more than $60 per barrel and give Moscow an economic reprieve.
Ambassadors will hold at least two meetings this week to advance the proposed sanctions package, which envisions delaying the automatic revision until January next year. This is to ensure Russia does not get the energy upper hand.
Commission prepares enlargement reform proposals to regain the initiative
The European Commission is preparing proposals to reform the EU enlargement process in an effort to reassert its role in a debate that has increasingly been shaped by member states, three EU officials told Euronews.
EU enlargement has climbed to the top of the agenda, as Montenegro is approaching the finishing line to join the bloc. In recent weeks, member states have advanced a flurry of position papers floating ideas on how to reform the accession process.
Five of the six EU founding members have proposed strengthening existing safeguards to prevent democratic backsliding and breaches of the rule of law — lessons drawn from Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
Germany and France have floating ideas for the gradual integration of candidate countries, allowing newcomers to see the early benefits of EU accession before reaching full membership.
Previously, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed creating an “associate membership” status to extend security guarantees to Ukraine.
Now EU countries are bracing for a strategic debate on reforming the accession process at the next EU leaders’ summit in October, following a tour of the 27 capitals by European Council President António Costa.
Ahead of the summit, the Commission is planning proposals that would help it regain the initiative — or at least avoid losing complete control of the discussion.
“We saw contributions on the topic from several member states. The Commission is also working on this matter. We are looking forward to the upcoming strategic discussion on enlargement and reforms at the EUCO meeting in October this year,” a Commission spokesperson told Euronews.
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We’re also keeping an eye on
- European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen visits a range of animal nutrition and vitamin sites in Germany and France.
- EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič host a business roundtable with Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs Mario Lubetkin.
- Kallas meets Alexus Grynkewich, US European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).That’s it for today. Sasha Vakulina and Jorge Liboreiro contributed to this newsletter.