EU proposes gradual integration for candidate countries

BRUSSELS

The European Commission has proposed gradually opening parts of the EU’s single market to candidate countries under a new enlargement package that ties access to reforms and strategic alignment with the bloc.

Presented by Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos on Oct. 6, the package also envisages closer cooperation in strategic sectors, including energy, transport, digital technology and defense.

Participation would depend on each country’s progress toward membership and readiness in the relevant policy area. Access would remain conditional and reversible, the Commission said.

The Commission stressed that gradual integration would neither replace full membership nor offer a shortcut to accession.

The package also proposes qualified majority voting instead of unanimity for some decisions in accession negotiations, including opening groups of negotiating chapters. Final admission would still require agreement among all EU member states.

Stronger safeguards would seek to ensure that new members continue to uphold commitments made during accession talks, including on the rule of law, after joining the bloc.

EU leaders are expected to discuss enlargement and the proposals at their Oct. 15-16 summit.

The approach would also apply to Türkiye, which began accession negotiations in October 2005. No new negotiating chapter has been opened since 2016, and the talks have effectively been at a standstill since 2018.

Ankara’s access to the proposed benefits would depend on meeting the reform and alignment conditions. In its 2025 country report, the Commission described Türkiye’s alignment with EU foreign and security policy as very low.