On 5 and 6 October, the European Political Community (EPC) and the European Council will meet in Granada, under the Spanish presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. This summit will address the question of the enlargement of the Union to include nine new Member States: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, plus Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine has turned Ukraine's accession into a moral and geopolitical obligation, thus relaunching a process of EU geographical expansion that has been practically paralysed since the signing of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, with the exception of Croatia's accession in 2013.

“After the situation created by Putin's full-scale war in Ukraine, the deepening of the integration project is now unavoidable, as advocated by the European Parliament” states Domènec Ruiz Devesa, President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF). “In Granada, the EU Leaders need to clarify not so much the "what" (enlargement) as the "how" (how to implement it financially and institutionally) that needs to be worked out. The arithmetical sum of states would mean nine new vetoes in the Council, and as many Commissioners, to reach the number of 36, which is not acceptable”.

This is particularly true with regard to decision-making in the Council, and the consequent increase in the possibilities of blockage through the use (and abuse) of the veto in certain policies of a strategic nature (foreign policy, taxation, multiannual budget, own resources, electoral law, monitoring of the rule of law, reform of the Treaties, among others). In a Union of Thirty-Six, it is unacceptable that the European Parliament should continue to be unable to participate in the approval of the Union's revenue, including new European taxes and the issuing of public debt, nor should it have the capacity for legislative initiative.

“The progress towards the geographical enlargement needs to evolve hand in hand with the political deepening of the EU integration and the Union of European Federalists will keep advocating for that” concludes Domènec Ruiz Devesa.