While Costa’s plan still requires unanimity to approve a country’s final accession — preserving the collective authority of EU nations over the ultimate decision — lowering the threshold to start talks could get things moving and alleviate frustration in Kyiv and Chișinău.
The move would help candidate countries, such as Ukraine and Moldova, to begin reforms to align with EU standards, even if one or two members officially oppose beginning negotiations.
EU diplomats see Costa’s proposal as a way to overcome repeated obstruction from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose veto has stalled Ukraine and Moldova’s progress.
“When a country is held back for no objective reasons, despite meeting the criteria, the credibility of the entire enlargement process is at risk,” Mercier said.
While supportive of efforts to accelerate the process, the Commission stressed that any decision to advance EU membership talks ultimately rests with member countries.
“It’s really for the member states to decide on the next steps, and we hope to open cluster one as soon as possible,” Mercier said.