Decision on EU financial support to member countries

The European Commission announced that it will offer cash support and access to EU markets to candidate countries to accelerate their preparations for membership.

The foundations for the EU summit to be held on October 5 and 6 were laid at meetings held in the Spanish town of Murcia between the foreign ministers of the 27 EU member countries. José Manuel Albares, Foreign Minister of Spain, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said: “Enlargement is one of the main problems facing the union. “We must be prepared to expand,” he said.

The countries currently candidate for EU membership are Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Georgia and Kosovo have potential candidate status.

Oliver Varhelyi, minister responsible for EU enlargement, stated at the press conference that the EU will adapt internal reforms to the preparations made by candidate countries to achieve complex EU criteria. Varhelyi said the European Commission will announce a package within the next two weeks, which will include measures to provide additional cash support and access to EU markets, to help candidate countries complete reforms faster.

The report, which guides discussions on the EU’s internal preparations, calls for a radical overhaul of decision-making and funding processes so that the EU can accept more countries as members by 2030. (Reuters)