EU aims to pacify Macron on ‘accession rules’

Bloomberg

European Union government envoys in Brussels and the bloc’s executive arm will seek to accommodate Emmanuel Macron’s appetite for reform with tighter rules on countries looking to join the bloc and a broader debate on how to make the EU more effective.
The European Commission will propose an overhaul of the expansion process in a bid to revive the candidacy bids of Albania and North Macedonia which Macron vetoed last year. A draft of the plan seen by Bloomberg would put more focus on “fundamentals,” such as the rule of law and functioning democratic institutions, when assessing candidate countries, though it doesn’t envisage new legislation.

EU Membership
France and the other 26 EU members already have plenty of opportunities to veto the accession process which involves prolonged negotiations over years or even decades. Any member state can block a candidate’s progress at any point in the process.
By reaffirming the focus on “negative consequences” and “reversibility” if candidate countries backtrack on the required reforms, the commission is aiming to provide enough political cover for Macron to drop his opposition to membership talks with the two countries from the western Balkans.
EU governments are wary of further delays as the prospect of membership is seen as anchoring fragile Balkan states to a path of democratic reforms.
When Macron vetoed the process last October, he earned an unusually strong rebuke from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
An official in Paris said the French government’s position hasn’t changed. While the proposed new methodology would be welcome, it doesn’t automatically re-open the enlargement process for North Macedonia and Albania, as these are two different topics, the official added, declining to be named
in line with French government rules.
On another front prompted by the French president, EU government envoys in Brussels will seek a common stance on the “Conference on the Future of Europe” — a two-year deliberation intended to invigorate European unification.
France is leading a small group of member states that say treaty changes shouldn’t be excluded, according to a diplomat familiar with the deliberations.