24 Amendments of Attila ARA-KOVÁCS related to 2023/2114(INI)
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 a (new)
Citation 10 a (new)
– having regard to the Enlargement Package adopted by the European Commission on 8 November 2023;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 b (new)
Citation 10 b (new)
– having regard to the report on the final outcome of the Conference on the Future of Europe of 9 May 2022;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has given new geostrategic meaning to the enlargement of the European Union; whereas enlargement is a strategic geopolitical investment in the future, which can be mutually beneficial for both existing and future Member States if the proper conditions are met; whereas enlargement has proven to be the most successful EU foreign policy instrument and is a very effective tool for boosting the necessary reforms both within the EU and in applicant countries, helping to encourage democratic transformation; whereas enlargement is a particular opportunity for tackling the climate crisis and improving energy cooperation between current and future member states; whereas enlargement is thus a crucial tool to improve the daily lives of inhabitants of both the EU and applicant countries;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the role of the European Parliament should be strengthened throughout the entire enlargement process; whereas civil society organisations should be structurally involved in the process as well;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas under the current institutional framework, the EU already faces considerable challenges in crisis management and strategic decision- making; whereas it is clear that the EU institutions and decision-making mechanisms were not designed for a Union that could be composed of up to 37 Member States; whereas before the next enlargement takes place, significant pre- enlargement reforms are needed to guarantee that the EU is able to absorb new members and to promote their successful integration; whereas this implies significant changes in the EU’s institutional framework, including to decision-making procedures, and the possible introduction of differentiated integration solutions; whereas in order to achieve this, the EU should take full advantage of the flexibility afforded by the Treaty of Lisbon and consider the possibility of treaty change, including via adaptations introduced by the accession treaties or by a possible 'Treaty of reform and accession';
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the Union’s credibility and ability to act in a timely and effective manner depends on efficient decision- making, and even more so in an enlarged EU of 30 or more Member States; whereas efficient decision-making leading to timely and coordinated internal and external action is vital for safeguarding the EU’s interests and its global geopolitical leadership and credibility; whereas reform of the EU’s governance structures, with simplified decision-making procedures, must be discussed and adopted in parallel with the ongoing accession negotiations;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas enlargement is also a major challenge for EU’s financial sustainability, in particular regarding cohesion and, agriculture and foreign and security policies; whereas the current and the next multiannual financial frameworks should be strengthened considerably to enable EU enlargement; whereas this financial groundwork must be in place before enlargement takes place;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that enlargement is of the utmost strategic importance for the EU, and all the more so in the face of Russia’s war of aggression against UkraineCalls on the European Council, when evaluating the progress made individually by the candidate countries for EU accession and deciding on further steps, to take into account the background of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine that has significant consequences for Ukraine’s immediate neighbouring countries as well as for the stability, security and prosperity of the entire European continent and therefore requires a long-term political vision and bold decisions that reflect the strategic importance of European unity and therefore EU enlargement; stresses that an enhanced enlargement policy has become the strongest geopolitical tool at the EU’s disposal; points out that enlargement is a strategic investment in to share peace, security, and prosperity, as well as a driver for democracy and European values on the continent with its European neighbours as well as to strengthen democracy and the rule of law, human rights, including minority rights, fundamental freedoms and European values;
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines that accession to the EU must always be a merit-based procedure and that each applicant must be assessed on their own merit in fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria and therefore in ensuring full respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law; stresses that while positive outcomes should be sought as quickly as possible, there should be no fast-track or fixed deadlines for membership; underscores that there can be no short-cuts on fundamental values; points out that alignment with the common foreign and security policy is also a way of showing full adherence to the EU’s fundamental principles and an important indicator for sustainable future membership and only significant progress on EU-related reforms can be a reason to resume accession negotiations with countries where the accession process is frozen, otherwise stalled or where backsliding took place; stresses the need to establish clear deadlines for concluding negotiations with the accession countries by the end of the current decade at the latest; points out that alignment with the common foreign and security policy is also a way of showing full adherence to the EU’s fundamental principles and an important indicator for sustainable future membership; urges all candidate and potential candidate countries to prioritize strict alignment with the EU’s common foreign and security policy and reiterates that accession can only proceed once a country aligns with EU sanctions against Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine;
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for a robust monitoring mechanism for the reforms and progress made by the candidate countries; urges, in particular, the setting up of a specific and effective monitoring mechanism for protecting fundamental values and the financial interests of the Union in the context of accession procedures; reiterates in this regard its calls to include candidate countries in the EU rule of law mechanism and its annual reporting exercise, automatically activating pre-accession cooperation and verification mechanisms, offering positive conditionality in the form of access to EU policies or triggering negative conditionality in the form of the suspension of accession negotiations and pre-accession funding, in particular by making the relevant provisions of Regulation (EU) 2021/1529 on IPA III swiftly and fully operational, and enabling the reopening of the negotiation chapters under reversibility clauses, as well as by closely involving civil society in the process;
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. CEmphasizes the absolute priority to strengthen the rule of law which has substantially gained in importance in the EU accession process and remains one of the most important conditions for EU membership to ensure that EU enlargement strengthens and does not weaken the Union and its Single Market; calls for a robust monitoring mechanism for the reforms and progress made by the candidate countries; urges, in particular, the setting up of a specific and effective monitoring mechanism for protecting fundamental values and the financial interests of the Union in the context of accession procedures; reiterates in this regard its calls to include candidate countries in the EU rule of law mechanism and its annual reporting exercise, automatically activating pre-accession cooperation and verification mechanisms;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for a robust monitoring mechanism for the reforms and progress made by the candidate countries; urges, in particular, the setting up of a specific and effective monitoring mechanism for protecting fundamental values and the financial interests of the Union in the context of accession procedures; reiterates in this regard its calls to include candidate countries in the EU rule of law mechanism and its annual reporting exercise, automatically activating pre-accession cooperation and verification mechanisms; calls for exploring avenues for further strengthening protection of the rule of law and the EU’s democratic values against backsliding for both new and existing Member States in the context of Treaty reform;
Amendment 331 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers that there is a need for stronger parliamentary oversight of the EU’s enlargement policy; insists on strengthening the role of Parliament throughout the entire accession process, including allowing it to scrutinise fully the progress made by the candidate countries across policy fields; invites to consider appointing an EU chief negotiator to carry out negotiations under a broad negotiating mandate, who would also be accountable to the European Parliament; underlines that regular dialogue and cooperation between the European Parliament and the national parliaments of candidate countries should be encouraged;
Amendment 343 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that the challenge of a bigger Union requires an enhanced enlargement policy putting in place a clear incremental pathway towards EU membership, including gradual integration into common policies, initiatives and the single market, access to EU funds in the respective areas, enabling citizens to reap the benefits of accession throughout the process and not only upon its completion; notes that this pathway should be accompanied by increased technical and conditional financial assistance with a special focus on the implementation and enforcement of laws under negotiating chapters 23, 24, 30 and 31; stresses that a dedicated and separate DG for Enlargement is necessary; invites the Commission to present detailed proposals on the incremental accession methodology; underlines that there will be no alternatives to substitute enlargement and that the phasing-in of candidate countries into selected policy areas is by no means an alternative to fully-fledged membership;
Amendment 357 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses that European institutional and financial reforms toshould increase the EU's ability to act, promote good governance, functionality and sustainability; notes that reforms are needed to ensurreinforce the EU’s and its institutions' capacity to absorb new members and to promote their successful integration;
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Points out that European institutional reforms must include simplified decision-making procedures, moving away from unanimity and replacing it with qualified majority voting provisions in areas such as the protection of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, sanctions and relevant foreign policy decision, the climate crisis and ecological transition, tax measures and foreign and security policy decisions, including through the introduction of qualified majority voting in areas relevant to the accession process, and ensuring the effective functioning of an enlarged union as a whole and abolishing, in particular, the requirement for unanimity when deciding on the start of the negotiation process as well as the opening and closing of individual negotiating clusters and chapters;
Amendment 380 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Points out that a parallel process of widening and deepening the EU will have a profound effect on a wide area of EU policies; notes that a simplified decision-making process for potential other areas will be of benefit to the overall governability of the EU as well;
Amendment 385 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls for the mechanism to protect the rule of law and the EU’s fundamental principles and values, and the monitoring capacity to ensure compliance, to be strengthened ahead of the next enlargement; stresses the need for a broader rule of law conditionality mechanism covering all of the Union’s fundamental values as defined in Art 2 TEU;
Amendment 420 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that institutional pre- enlargement reforms must also address the implications of enlargement on the composition of Parliament, including considering the possibility of observer Members of European Parliament; recalls that the European Parliament is already one of the largest parliaments in the world and underlines that in any case it must remain at a workable scale; points out, however, that a reasonable increase in the size of Parliament cannot be ruled out in order to ensure sufficient democratic representativeness; insists on a new system for seat allocation based on a permanent mathematical formula;
Amendment 432 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Points out that the functioning of the Council should also be reviewed in view of enlargement, in particular the system of rotating presidencies of the Council of the European Union; notes that the calculation of qualified majority voting thresholds should also be reconsidered; urges the Council to overcome the current deadlock in the Article 7 TEU procedure and to replace unanimity minus 1 by a majority of four-fifths of the Member States in relation to this procedure in the Council;
Amendment 450 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses that enlargement is a major financial challenge for the EU, in particular regarding cohesion and agriculture policies; point out that this challenge cannot be met without a larger EU budget and sufficient own resources or potential co-financing instruments; notes that this would be an opportunity to restructure the EU budget, look at its core priorities and let the most financially strong contribute to a newly reformed EU; notes that this adds to growing demands on EU funding in the fields of financial stability, health, energy, decarbonisation, digital, research and defence and security; underlines that such financial reforms must be discussed in parallel with the ongoing accession negotiations and adopted before enlargement takes place; defends its position that the current and future multiannual financial frameworks should be strengthened considerably to enable EU enlargement, and that this financial groundwork must be in place before enlargement takes place;
Amendment 474 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Deplores the use of unresolved bilateral and regional disputes to block or considerably delay candidate countries’ accession processes and adopt an official mechanism for the resolution and arbitration of these disputes to support their resolution separately from the accession to the EU, as they can hinder the implementation of European policies and weaken the EU’s regional and global influence; recalls that candidate countries should be assessed on the basis of their own merit in complying with the objective criteria for accession, including the implementation of EU-related reforms as well as the policy alignment with the CFSP, such as on positions and restrictive measures taken following the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine;
Amendment 479 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Calls to improve the consistency, efficiency and transparency of pre- accession assistance, clearly reflecting the priorities in the fundamental areas in the allocation of IPA III funding; calls in particular to introduce stricter and enforcable accountability with regard to the spending of such funding; calls also to improve the visibility of EU funding and the tangible results of it in the enlargement countries;
Amendment 481 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Calls to strategically apply targeted conditionality based on clear progress benchmarks, rewarding reforms and sanctioning regression or a persistent lack of progress;