EU discusses expansion: Beyond Ukraine, Balkan nations and Moldova also want in
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Transcript
00:00 you Phil. Tell us a bit more about what's at stake here.
00:03 Well I think it was summed up well this morning on a news wire from AFP which called it the
00:10 worst political headache for the European Union to talk about enlargement, especially
00:14 right now. How to welcome in new, mostly poorer members to an institution that is already
00:21 based on rules that were drawn up decades ago when there were just fewer countries and
00:27 where it's going to be very difficult to overhaul the whole European Union to welcome in these
00:32 new countries. So these are the ones that want to join Turkey, North Macedonia, Montenegro,
00:37 Serbia, Albania, Moldova, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They're the countries that
00:42 are in yellow on the map. So the one which stands out of course is Ukraine because of
00:48 the war imposed by Russia and Ukraine wants fast track entry into the European Union.
00:55 And although most countries, most of the 27 members of the European Union are in agreement
00:59 about that, what they don't agree with is the idea that the whole EU is going to have
01:04 to be overhauled, the common agricultural policy for example, there will have to be
01:09 changes to rules on collective decision making and all of that will have to be in place before
01:14 Ukraine can become a member. So that's why some are saying well yes we would like Ukraine
01:19 to be a member but at the same time we're a little bit reticent about it because it
01:22 means that there are going to be many changes that are going to have to take place before
01:26 Ukraine can come in and we're not quite ready to introduce those changes or take on those
01:30 changes right now. So that's a dilemma and that is why Volodymyr Zelensky is becoming
01:36 increasingly worried about what is going to happen in the future. He has issued a statement
01:40 saying that he welcomes the idea of coming to this European political community summit
01:47 in Grenada and that what he really wants is for Ukraine to join the EU as quickly as possible.
01:52 But there's another issue also which is concerning the EU leaders and that is the fact that they're
01:57 worried about what's going on in the United States and whether the funding from the United
02:01 States is going to carry on for Ukraine, especially if there is a change of political standing
02:06 in the White House next year, if Donald Trump is re-elected. The shutdown has also rung
02:10 the alarm bells about future funding for Ukraine and the EU says we cannot take on the funding
02:15 the US is providing if that is to dry up and keep supporting the war in Ukraine. So lots
02:20 of issues that are drawing red lines at this summer over expansion of the EU.
02:26 And is this putting the reputation of some EU leaders on the line?
02:29 Well that is also a threat and there are three big ones. One of them is the French President
02:33 Emmanuel Macron. There's also the German Chancellor Olof Scholz, both of them you can see in this
02:38 picture. And there's also Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU Commission. They are pushing
02:43 for this EU enlargement. The big problem that they have is they are seeing on the one side
02:49 the rise of populist far-right movements in some countries, also from the far left, which
02:55 are populist too. We've just seen that happening in Slovakia, but also we've seen the rise
03:00 of populist movements in Italy, in Sweden, as well as Hungary and other countries like
03:07 Poland, for example. And there is a threat of a split within the EU over those who are
03:11 in favour of maintaining the way the EU is run at the moment and those who want it completely
03:16 overhauled in the interests of their own country or is exacerbated by the migrant crisis. So
03:22 there are lots of different issues that are on the table right now. And I think the best
03:28 way of putting it is there is a decision that has to be made between euro-idealism on the
03:33 one side, that's the ideal situation for the EU, and hard-nosed pragmatism on the other
03:40 so that the EU can soothe the jitters of some leaders who are fearing the rise of populism
03:45 in their country at the next election.
03:47 And it's not the only issues being discussed. There's also Nagorno-Karabakh and tensions
03:51 between Serbia and Kosovo as well.
03:53 That is true. And that hasn't got off to a very good start either because the Azerbaijan
03:59 president, Ilham Aliyev, was due to come to this summit. He's not come because he says
04:05 that he was annoyed about pro-Armenian statements by French officials. So no meeting between
04:10 him and Nikol Pashinyan, which was due to take place, that is disappointing. But there
04:16 is hope that a new meeting will take place organized by the EU before the end of October
04:20 between those two presidents.
04:22 The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is also not present. That is also disappointing
04:27 because of his role in not only mediating in the war in Ukraine, but also in the situation
04:34 in Nagorno-Karabakh as well. Turkey is the longest-standing country that is asking for
04:39 EU membership. The Turkish president recently saying that he didn't hold out any hope of
04:45 any membership anytime soon and that he didn't expect anything from the EU.
04:49 And of course, there's the Serbia and Kosovo situation and threats of a rise in clashes
04:55 between those two nations, which is something also that the EU is having to deal with. So
04:59 lots of other issues as well as expansion at this summit, which has to be said, bringing
05:04 together 44 heads of state, not just the 27 members of the European Union.
05:08 All right, Philip, thank you very much. Philip Turrell, France 24's Foreign Editor.