Germany’s Baerbock pitches radical EU reform as bloc eyes expansion – POLITICO

BERLIN — The European Union must embark on daring reforms because it prepares to develop, German Overseas Minister Annalena Baerbock mentioned Thursday.

In feedback that can trigger alarm in a few of the EU’s smaller member nations, Baerbock proposed the abolition of the present system which assigns every of the 27 nations a commissioner, because the EU gears as much as permit new members to affix the membership by the top of the last decade.

“The European Parliament and the Fee can’t be merely allowed to develop and develop, turn into ever greater,” she mentioned at a gathering of international ministers and representatives from the EU and academia in Berlin. “We have to take courageous, brave selections. A rustic like Germany, for instance — we’re able to do with out our personal commissioner for a restricted time period.” 

Among the many potentialities can be to divide massive Fee portfolios amongst a number of member nations, Baerbock mentioned. 

As well as, the Inexperienced politician proposed amending the “unanimity” rule which permits a single member nation the power to veto EU initiatives in sure instances, together with in extremely delicate areas like taxation and international coverage. 

Baerbock’s feedback come as the controversy about enlarging the EU to confess nations like Ukraine and Western Balkan nations heats up forward of a key summit of EU leaders in Brussels subsequent month.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime state of affairs for us,” she mentioned, noting the renewed urge for food for enlargement amongst member nations since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Echoing latest feedback by different EU international ministers, Baerbock warned towards an either-or strategy to enlargement — proposing, for instance, that accession nations could possibly be permitted to attend Council conferences earlier than turning into full members. 

“We have to get out of the state of affairs the place folks consider that accession is an either-or factor,” she instructed the gathering on the federal international ministry. “We must always be sure that the folks of those nations, particularly the younger folks, get a possibility to take part in the benefits of the European Union at an early stage, even earlier than their nation turns into a full member.”

This might embrace permitting college students from nations like North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey to take part within the Erasmus pupil program, or lowering roaming charges and simplifying visa procedures for residents of candidate nations.  

Linking EU funds to rule-of-law requirements also needs to kind a part of EU coverage, she added.

Baerbock, addressing delegates in Berlin in entrance of an indication studying “a bigger, stronger union,” additionally referred to as for improved coordination between the EU’s international coverage wing — the Exterior Motion Service (EEAS) — and the European Fee, as she pitched for a extra assertive EU international coverage.

However Baerbock acknowledged latest divides throughout the EU over the Israel-Hamas warfare. “We play totally different components and took totally different views … it hasn’t all the time been simple to discover a widespread language on this. There aren’t any simple solutions. Struggling for a compromise will all the time be a part of the European Union.”