European Commission to Draft EU Enlargement Safeguard Mechanism by End of September
The European Commission plans to present proposals for safeguard mechanisms for new EU member states by the end of September. This was announced by Ireland's Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, ahead of an informal meeting of EU ministers.
Ireland's Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, said ahead of the informal meeting of EU ministers on September 4 that the European Commission will draft proposals for safeguard mechanisms applicable to new EU member states by the end of this month.
According to Byrne, member states will hold discussions at the meeting on the precautionary mechanisms needed during the accession process. European Commissioner for Justice Michael McGrath will also join the talks to address security and democracy issues.
The minister noted that it is already useful for ministers to discuss where exactly they see the need for such safeguards, since these provisions will later become part of the accession treaty. He stressed that discussing safeguard mechanisms is a particularly key part of the accession process for Montenegro.
Earlier proposals
EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos had previously outlined four main directions for changes to the enlargement process — internal reforms of the bloc, strengthened democratic guarantees, gradual integration, and transitional measures.
The European Commission is working on proposals to reform the enlargement process in response to ideas raised by member states, and also to avoid placing the burden of new guarantees solely on Montenegro, the candidate country with the highest level of EU integration.
Earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had proposed creating an "associated membership" status for Ukraine.
