Germany demands reforms in EU in case of its enlargement

Germany will only agree to the accession of new member states if this process is accompanied by a reform of the EU in order not to jeopardize the bloc’s ability to act, said Jorg Kukies, state secretary at the Federal Chancellery and top adviser to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Report informs referring to Euractiv.

The call for EU reform has so far been met with resistance – especially from Eastern and Scandinavian member states, but Berlin is confident that a consensus on reforming the EU can be reached.

According to Kukies, the success of the EU reform would boil down to “how hard we negotiate” and “how clearly we communicate that we will only allow enlargement if there are institutional reforms.”

“As the German government, we have very clear positions on this, and the answer is that we need institutional reform. At least at the same time as enlargement,” he added.