The Renew Europe Group welcomes the enlargement package presented by Commissioner Marta Kos today in Parliament. It shows the substantial progress made by a number of countries aspiring to join the European project, from Montenegro to Ukraine.
They do the hard but necessary ground work to unite Europe, and we are all the better off for it, underlines MEP Petras Austrevicius (Liberalų sąjūdis, Lithuania):
‘We congratulate the European Commission on its mature and sober assessment of the prospects for enlargement, which is also encouraging. The current geopolitical situation requires Europe to continue unifying and strengthening its economic and political power. Enlargement based on individual merits and accomplishments is the answer.’
MEP Hilde Vautmans (Open Vld, Belgium) adds:
‘If we want to strengthen Europe geostrategically, enlargement is essential—our recent past has proven that. The Baltic states and Poland are leading the way in supporting Ukraine and defending our external borders. They are living proof of how enlargement has made us stronger. But we cannot “enlarge” again with business as usual. This next enlargement move will only succeed if we end the paralysis of national vetoes. We cannot afford to bring in new Orbáns.’
The Renew Europe Group has long argued that the parallel processes of widening and reforming the Union must go hand in hand, and the Gozi Report voted last month in the European Parliament underlined that message.
MEP Sandro Gozi (Mouvement Démocrate, France) concludes:
‘Enlargement means reform, simple as that. If the Commission and Council cannot even begin this discussion, we are not being truthful to candidate countries, and to ourselves. The European Parliament’s demand is very clear, with the adoption of my report last month: Let us reform Europe to unify the continent. Delaying the institutional debate risks creating a two-tier Europe, while taking the pressure off the real problem: the EU as it is, is not fit for purpose... let alone with 30 or more members.’
