'We will have new safeguards,' says Kos
New EU members will lose national vetoes for over 15 years under new “safeguard” clauses in their accession treaties, Marta Kos, the enlargement commissioner, said, as Ukraine and Moldova officially begin membership negotiations.
Describing a decision to open the first ‘cluster’ of accession talks with both countries as “mega Monday”, Kos appeared to endorse proposals, backed by France, Germany and others, to restrict new members from voting on budgetary, security, and foreign policy decisions.
The decision to begin a new round of formal membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova comes as a growing number of national governments have demanded protective measures if new member states reverse reforms on democracy, the rule of law, or press freedom.
“This will be a new generation of accession treaties in the sense that we will have new safeguards,” said Kos.
