Gradual accession featuring access to the European single market, but accompanied by strict 15-year monitoring, will await new EU members.
Replacing unanimity with qualified majority voting among EU countries during both the opening and closing of negotiating chapters for candidate countries represents the first key pillar of the EU’s new pre-accession policy, which was presented on Tuesday by Commissioner for Enlargement Kos.
The second pillar concerns the gradual integration of candidate countries into specific strategic sectors of the bloc, such as energy, transport, and defense, which may nevertheless be revoked if a country demonstrates backsliding, Kos explained.
Under the pre-accession policy, safeguards are also being introduced to prevent new members from opposing the entry of subsequent candidate countries over bilateral disputes, Kos pointed out.