Charles Michel says the EU’s next enlargement is a “cornerstone” of the “sovereignty strategy” – World

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, today defended that the enlargement of the European Union (EU) is a “cornerstone” of the community bloc’s “sovereignty strategy”, warning candidate countries and European institutions of “a lot of work to do” .

“We must be ready — on both sides — by 2030 for enlargement. For the candidate countries, this means carrying out the necessary reforms and resolving all bilateral disputes. On the EU side, it means reforming our programs and budgets, and our decision-making”, highlighted Charles Michel.

In a statement released on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the last major enlargement of the community bloc, in 2004, the leader recalled that this was “a transformative event” for the European continent.

“For new members, joining our EU family has been a powerful driver for greater prosperity, and the spectacular increase in their GDP is the best proof,” he stressed.

For Michel, the “great enlargement” gave the EU “more global influence”: “Our internal market is the largest in the world and we have become the second largest trading power in the world for goods, after China and ahead of the USA”.

“This gave us more weight and a stronger position in international forums such as the G7 and G20. And more impact in promoting our democratic values ​​and our social and environmental standards”, he defended.

On May 1, 2004, ten new member states entered the bloc: Cyprus, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Slovenia.

Later, Bulgaria and Romania also joined in 2007, and Croatia in 2013, with the United Kingdom leaving the EU in 2020, which currently has 27 member states.

The President of the European Council recalled the “optimism of 2004” that “seems to have happened a long time ago” and warned that the EU is currently facing three major shocks, the first being the one facing the natural world: climate change and biodiversity; the second the shock of technology: the digital revolution and artificial intelligence; and third, the shock of a chaotic geopolitical transition.

For Charles Michel, the current world order is being undermined by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but this war “is not limited to the skies and trenches of Ukraine”.

“The EU, its candidate countries and even Africa are subject to the Kremlin’s hybrid attacks. Migrants, money and fake news are being used by Russia as a weapon to destabilize. The Kremlin has a clear objective — to crush the European dream. By what? Because the Kremlin is terrified of freedom and democracy on its doorstep”, he highlighted.

The European leader also stressed that the EU has a strategy to achieve “European sovereignty”, which means “becoming stronger, more influential and having more control” over its destiny.

Charles Michel pointed out, to achieve this strategy, the need to build a “strong and more competitive economy” or “develop defense readiness”.

“Currently, the test of our generation is to make this Europe stronger, more sovereign, more influential, more integrated and even more united. We are at the door of another historic moment for our Union, we have an encounter with history, let’s accept it with both hands”, he concluded.

Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are officially candidate countries for accession. Kosovo submitted the request in 2022 but its independence is not recognized by five EU member states (Spain, Romania, Greece, Slovakia and Cyprus).