Speech by President Séamus Boland, EESC plenary debate with Dorin Recean, Prime Minister of Moldova

EESC plenary debate on the future role of civil society in the enlargement process with Dorin Recean, Prime Minister of Moldova; Majlinda Bregu, Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council; and representatives of civil society organisations from candidate countries

Dear Prime Minister, dear Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council, and representatives of civil society organisations from candidate countries,

There is no doubt that the war of aggression against Ukraine has shifted the centre of the EU's gravity to the East, with enlargement to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia under consideration for strategic and geopolitical reasons;

The President of the European Commission has even asked the Council to make a decision in December on the accession of Ukraine;

However, EU Member States must not forget the Western Balkans, nor should EU enlargement become an open-ended and competitive process among candidate countries;

In the short time I have available, I would like to make three points.

Firstly, all partners (the EU, candidate countries and applicants) should recall what are the main objectives of the EU's enlargement policy;

Namely: to have more co-legislators around the table, whilst continuing to uphold existing high common standards;

Following this logic, the EU needs to engage in an internal reflection on how to be best prepared and welcome new countries;

In other words, we need to reflect on internal EU reforms that will be necessary in order to manage future enlargements;

Some refer to this as the absorption capacity of the EU.

Secondly, we need to think about what we really expect from candidate countries in relation to values, at the moment of their accession?

Will membership really have a transformative economic, social and political (i.e. democratic) power?

And how should we judge progress on these values among candidate countries, when at the same time there is discord on values among existing EU members?

I believe that it can, as long as civil society within the accession countries is both well organised and independent, helping to accompany the entire process;

In effect, CSOs both encourage higher standards and act as watchdogs within their countries;

For this reason, CSOs should be approached as valuable partners in the enlargement process and the EESC has for many years involved them in pre-accession consultative bodies;

Indeed, several individuals who were involved in pre-accessions consultative committees are now Members of the Committee and we are very pleased to have them among us.

The third and final point that I would like to make relates to the role of public opinion in the enlargement process;

I believe that we need a new narrative, from both Member States and candidate countries, on why enlargement would be a positive development;

Positive for the future and existing Member States;

CSOs can be front-runners in creating and disseminating this narrative among their networks and I call upon you to support them in their endeavours;

Thank you for your attention.