Brussels Ignores Push Back on EU Expansion—Wants to Move Even Faster
Kaja Kallas insists enlargement remains the bloc’s “most successful foreign policy,” even as key capitals question plans to move faster on new members.
Kaja Kallas insists enlargement remains the bloc’s “most successful foreign policy,” even as key capitals question plans to move faster on new members.
The European Union’s leadership has once again demonstrated it is totally tone-deaf on the issue of the bloc’s expansion. Either that, or it simply does not care about opposition from even its most powerful member states.
Less than a week after representatives from Germany and France dismissed plans backed by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to speed up the admission of new countries to the EU, top Brussels diplomat Kaja Kallas stressed that the bloc should be moving faster, not slower.
Kallas told ambassadors on Monday that “enlargement is a geopolitical choice,” though it is clearly not one that has the backing of all who will feel the consequences.
She added that “it is up to us to keep telling the enlargement story,” perhaps because others are unwilling to do so, and that “in the current context we need to step up the pace.”
Kallas also claimed that “enlargement has been described as the Union’s most successful foreign policy,” without citing the source of this remark, while stressing: “It must remain merit-based.”
Dutch former MEP Dorien Rookmaker responded, however, that Brussels appears set on pushing through Ukraine’s accession “against all the rules.”
Indeed, while Kallas did not explicitly refer to Ukraine—and other countries, including West Balkan states, are seeking to join the bloc—debate over enlargement has largely centred on Kyiv’s application since the war began.
France’s Emmanuel Macron previously said that this process could take “several decades,” while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed at the end of January: “[Ukraine’s] accession on 1 January 2027 is out of the question. It’s not possible.”
Yet Politico has this week cited a “senior EU diplomat” who said officials would do their best to keep enlargement on track, despite ongoing disputes.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
