{"id":17778,"date":"2026-08-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/?p=17778"},"modified":"2026-08-21T16:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T14:00:10","slug":"eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Countries at Europe\u2019s Door, and the One Veto That Can Close It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 id=\"h-many-candidates-no-guarantees\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Many candidates, no guarantees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ten countries are currently waiting in line to join the European Union. Nine of them \u2014 <strong>Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine \u2014 hold official candidate status<\/strong>, while Kosovo counts as a \u201cpotential candidate.\u201d Since five member states \u2014 Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Romania, and Slovakia \u2014 do not recognize Kosovo\u2019s independence, and will not do so in any imaginable future, and since <strong>all members must agree before the EU can admit a new state<\/strong>, the accession of this former Serbian province can be considered unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Who can become a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/migration-and-global-economy-how-countries-adapt-to-the-new-challenge\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"11664\">member of the European Union<\/a>?<\/strong> Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union states that \u201cany European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2\u201d may apply. Before we turn to those values, it is worth noting that the phrase \u201cEuropean State\u201d itself remains unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turkey holds candidate status, the highest possible status for a state aspiring to join the Union, even though only 3 percent of its territory lies on the European continent. That is less than in the case of Kazakhstan, where the figure ranges from 4\u20135 percent to 10 percent, depending on how one draws the partly conventional border between Europe and Asia. As a curiosity, one may add that <strong>in 1987 Morocco applied for membership of the EEC, the EU\u2019s predecessor.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-eu-values-are-not-binary\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">EU values are not binary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The values themselves are similarly ambiguous. Article 2 TEU lists them as \u201crespect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.\u201d Some of these concepts remain imprecise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, what exactly is \u201cthe rule of law\u201d if neither the treaties nor other EU documents define it, while specialists distinguish at least three \u2014 and in reality more \u2014 major European traditions of the concept? The situation becomes even more complicated with human rights. One only has to notice how differently various countries understand the first and most important of them: the right to life. From an axiological point of view, then, the matter is not obvious either. There is enormous room for the politicization of values and for treaty abuses, which, in fact, we have already encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1993, the EU defined the so-called <strong>Copenhagen criteria: the conditions that a state applying for membership must meet<\/strong>. These include democracy, the rule of law, a functioning market economy, and the ability to incorporate EU law into domestic law. The European Commission carries out ongoing monitoring and technical assessment. Yet here, too, we deal with ambiguous concepts and with the inevitable evaluative nature of the Commission\u2019s opinions, so it is hard to describe the situation as binary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-one-veto-stops-the-entire-accession\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">One veto stops the entire accession<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By contrast, one criterion is binary \u2014 either fulfilled or not: the requirement that all EU states unanimously agree to admit a new country. <strong>Vetoes and threats of vetoes have accompanied the admission of new members many times.<\/strong> Sometimes they concerned issues of the highest strategic importance, as during the first enlargement, then still of the Communities rather than the Union, to include the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark. President de Gaulle\u2019s France blocked that enlargement twice. A similar dynamic appeared during the so-called 10+2 enlargement in 2004 and 2007, which included Poland and at one point faced the threat of a Greek veto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At other times, vetoes concerned matters that seemed marginal to most states but mattered deeply to the two directly involved: the existing member and the would-be candidate. One example was the Slovenian-Croatian dispute over 19 square kilometers in the Bay of Piran. It also happened that neither the Union itself nor any of its member states had to block a candidate\u2019s accession, because the candidate understood the need to change its policy, including its historical policy, and did so. Croatia\u2019s turn away from its Usta\u0161e past offers such a case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EU_enlargement-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Flags of member states in front of the headquarters of European institutions. EU enlargement requires the unanimous consent of all members, which means that even EU candidate countries that meet the formal conditions may wait years for the accession process to conclude.\" class=\"wp-image-17779\" srcset=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EU_enlargement-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EU_enlargement-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EU_enlargement-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EU_enlargement.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo: Depositphotos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-eu-member-states-france-closed-the-door-twice\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">EU member states: France closed the door twice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The three attempts by the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark to join what were then the European Communities belong to EU prehistory, but they remain instructive.<\/strong> After losing its global-power status and in the face of the successes of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community, Britain revised its earlier skeptical attitude toward European integration. In 1961, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan submitted an application to join the EEC. Ireland and Denmark, both economically tied to the United Kingdom, did the same. France vetoed the application in 1963.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same thing happened again in 1967, this time essentially without justification. President de Gaulle merely stated that \u201cGreat Britain is still not ready economically and politically.\u201d In other words, one might say, he said no because he said no. Only in 1972 did his successor, Georges Pompidou, \u201clet\u201d the United Kingdom into the EEC, effective from 1 January 1973, together with the two other states and Norway. Norway, however, ultimately did not become a member of the Communities after a negative referendum result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-greece-forced-cyprus-s-entry\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Greece forced Cyprus\u2019s entry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In more recent times, <strong>Greece twice exerted major influence over the shape of<\/strong> <strong>EU enlargements<\/strong>. First, it forced the accession of Cyprus in 2004. The Union treated this candidacy with reserve because the island had been divided since 1974 into a southern, Greek part and a northern, Turkish part over which the Republic of Cyprus has no control. Cyprus\u2019s accession in a bizarre formula \u2014 under which the entire island became a member of the Union, but EU law was \u201csuspended\u201d in the northern part \u2014 contradicted the official doctrine contained in the \u201cAgenda 2000\u201d document, which aimed to protect the Union from importing geopolitical instability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Greece threatened to veto the accession of the other 11 states in 2004\/2007, including Poland, Brussels gave way. As a result, an area emerged inside the European Union, at least theoretically, where the basic currency is the Turkish lira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The power of the veto threat is so great that <strong>Greece even managed to force another state to change its name.<\/strong> For many years, it blocked Macedonia\u2019s aspirations to join the <a href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/will-the-european-union-endure-repeating-the-mistakes-of-history\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12355\">European Union<\/a> and NATO, arguing that the country\u2019s name belonged exclusively to Greek historical and cultural heritage and fearing territorial claims against its own northern province of the same name. The vetoes proved effective. Under the Prespa Agreement of June 2018, Macedonia changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia, and Greece withdrew its vetoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On 26 March 2020, the European Council approved the opening of negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, and one day later North Macedonia became a member of NATO. This, however, did not end North Macedonia\u2019s accession problems, because <strong>Bulgaria may still block it for historical, linguistic, and identity-related reasons.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-eu-membership-croatia-changed-its-politics-of-memory\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">EU membership: Croatia changed its politics of memory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is difficult to discuss all vetoes and threats of vetoes, because they do not always become official, and some blockades remain temporary or concern specific negotiating chapters rather than accession as a whole. It is worth recalling, however, a story in which neither a member state\u2019s veto threat nor any action by the European Union was needed, at least officially, to influence the policy of a candidate country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This concerns the deep change in historical narrative that took place in Croatia. After the country declared independence in 1991 and during the war of 1991\u20131995, Croatia saw a clear return to the traditions of the fascist Independent State of Croatia, or NDH, which existed from 1941 to 1945 and was treated as the \u201cfirst independent Croatian state\u201d in centuries. The revival also involved the symbolism of the fascist Usta\u0161e movement, responsible for the <a href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/children-of-war-trauma-and-the-future-of-democracy\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"17540\">genocide<\/a> of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Roma, including at the Jasenovac camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Croatia\u2019s first president, Franjo Tu\u0111man, encouraged this return through a policy of reconciliation and unification between the descendants of communist partisans and the descendants of Usta\u0161e members for the purpose of a common struggle against the Serbs. At the same time, the first constitution of 1990 already referred to antifascist traditions and distanced itself from the Usta\u0161e legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The requirements of integration with the European Union and the need to build credibility on the international stage led to the country\u2019s gradual \u201cde-Usta\u0161ization.\u201d Yet it seems that no one had to remind the Croats of this or force them to do it. The situation differs completely from Ukraine, which invokes Bandera traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-eu-enlargement-three-years-or-almost-40\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">EU enlargement: three years or almost 40<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>There is no regular pattern when it comes to the waiting time for membership.<\/strong> Finland took less than three years from application to full membership. Turkey submitted its application 39 years ago, on 14 April 1987, and has been an associate state of the EEC, the Union\u2019s predecessor, for \u2014 wait for it \u2014 63 years. Even if Turkey still cared about integration, it would have to reckon with very tough, perhaps prohibitive, conditions imposed especially by Greece and Cyprus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Turkey no longer cares. Around 2010, Egemen Ba\u011f\u0131\u015f, then minister of state and chief negotiator for Turkey\u2019s EU membership, told the author of these words that his country\u2019s tolerance for being led by the nose by the Union\u2019s biggest players \u2014 especially France and Germany \u2014 was just coming to an end. And it did end. Some 10 years ago, President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan stopped looking toward \u201cEuropean values\u201d and moved toward autocracy, which froze the accession process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conclusion from all of this is that <strong>EU enlargement is almost never settled until the very last day<\/strong>, before a state actually becomes a full member. But once it does become one, it gains a powerful instrument for influencing the policies of other states \u2014 provided it wants to use that instrument and knows how to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Read this article in Polish:<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/rozszerzenie-unii-europejskiej-na-koncu-czeka-pulapka\/\">Dziesi\u0119\u0107 pa\u0144stw czeka na\u00a0Uni\u0119. Co\u00a0mo\u017ce zamkn\u0105\u0107 im\u00a0drzwi?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four countries have just heard that they are closer to the European Union. Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro, and Albania received a strong political signal. Yet behind the scenes of EU enlargement negotiations, a mechanism remains in place that can halt the entire accession process in a single moment. Dariusz Lipi\u0144ski, former vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, writes about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":17780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[512,2152,2797,663],"class_list":["post-17778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-truth-and-goodness","tag-geopolitics","tag-democracy","tag-eu-enlargement","tag-european-union"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.3 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>EU Enlargement. The Veto at the Door.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EU enlargement may seem open, but one national veto can still stop accession and reshape a country\u2019s future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EU Enlargement. The Veto at the Door.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EU enlargement may seem open, but one national veto can still stop accession and reshape a country\u2019s future.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Holistic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/portalHolisticNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-22T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EU_enlargement_1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dariusz Lipi\u0144ski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@news_holistic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@news_holistic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dariusz Lipi\u0144ski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dariusz Lipi\u0144ski\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4e4e1d5029923b6a377aaa87bb0adcb\"},\"headline\":\"Ten Countries at Europe\u2019s Door, and the One Veto That Can Close It\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-22T15:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1629,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/EU_enlargement_1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"#geopolitics\",\"democracy\",\"EU enlargement\",\"european union\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Truth &amp; Goodness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/eu-enlargement-the-veto-at-the-door\\\/\",\"name\":\"EU Enlargement. 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