Brussels – The wait continues, with no date yet set in the calendar. After two postponements, the European Commission’s communication on EU reforms is now expected “by the end of 2025, or the beginning of next year,” said Marko Makovec, Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Kos, at an event hosted by the European Policy Centre on 12 November.
The non-legislative initiative on “policy reviews and reforms to prepare the EU for enlargement” was postponed because, “in the wake of the war in Ukraine, defence has become the most pressing priority,” he explained, referring to the Readiness Roadmap 2030 of 16 October and the forthcoming Defence Package, expected on 19 November. With the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework listed as the second priority, “EU reforms were the third one in terms of urgency,” Makovec added.
The Commission had been expected to publish the communication on pre-enlargement reforms on 4 November, alongside the presentation of the 2025 Enlargement Package, but it was ultimately postponed until after the first EU Enlargement Forum, scheduled for 18 November, The New Union Post has learnt. “We are working diligently to finalise the communication as soon as possible,” a Commission spokesperson commented.
What to expect on EU reforms
What the Commission will publish in the following weeks or months is a communication – a soft law instrument setting out a strategic approach but carrying no legally binding force. Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has anticipated that the proposal on the EU reforms will focus on what can already be done under the current Treaties, and on those areas where a broad consensus is emerging.
Available tools include the passerelle clauses – legal mechanisms that allow a shift in decision-making procedures without a formal treaty amendment, such as moving from unanimity to qualified majority voting. Policy reviews will cover strengthening sectoral policies, values, and the budget. Building on the communication, the Commission will engage with the Parliament and the Council to determine to what extent it will be possible to make progress with the co-legislators.
Without revealing details of the forthcoming proposal on EU reforms, Head of Cabinet Makovec confirmed that “we are operating within the framework of the Treaties.” He noted that the work also take into account that the current EU enlargement methodology, introduced in 2021, has been taken hostage by the “bilateralisation” of the EU accession process – meaning that “problems arise when bilateral issues introduced by some member states bring to a halt a process intended to drive reforms” in the candidates.
For the Commission, one possible solution could be “reducing the number of unanimous decisions in the Council from 150 to 70” during the intermediate stages of each candidate’s EU accession process, “merging them into only the most important decisions.” This is because “we have to move full speed ahead with the enlargement process and leave it to the legislators to decide how to proceed with the reforms,” Makovec stressed.
Regarding the plan suggested by some member states to admit new members without granting them full voting rights and the veto power – a way to externalise the problem of unanimity in the EU’s decision-making process onto the newcomers – Commissioner Kos already made it clear that in von der Leyen’s cabinet “there is no debate on cutting voting rights,” because “once we accept new member states, they also need to have the same rights.”
Head of Cabinet Makovec added that “we will not propose anything that goes against the core principle of the EU, which is equality.” On the contrary, “the elephant in the room” must be addressed – which Commissioner Kos referred to as the Trojan horse: “Regimes in Beijing and Moscow are willing to make us fail, and they have plans to change governments in some of the Member States. We need to make sure that new members will not be vulnerable.”
This is where the “safeguards” on political and security issues may be considered in the future Accession Treaties, but “they should not in any way limit the voting rights or other rights of the new Member States,” Makovec concluded, stressing that equality among members and their citizens “is what the EU is about.”
