Brussels – On the day the most politicised and discriminatory FIFA World Cup in history kicks off, European football fans – rather than international federations – may have something to teach EU institutions and member states. “Ordinary citizens have travelled to enlargement countries that many politicians have never visited. For them, these countries are already part of Europe, and welcoming new members is a sign of strength. We should follow their lead.”
This is how Gillian Coughlan (Renew), member of Cork County Council (Ireland), co-chair of the European Committee of the Regions’ Working Group with Kosovo, and rapporteur on the 2025 Enlargement Package, explains to The New Union Post the “existential imperative” of EU enlargement and the need for a frank self-assessment of “where we are with our own citizens” when it comes to communicating the benefits of an “expanded and united Europe.”
“Our people are actually ahead of us,” she notes when talking about how to cover the only apparent distance between EU and non-EU members. “When I am at home saying that I am going to my working group in Kosovo or talking about North Macedonia, my 16-year-old son says that he knows all the countries and cities I mention because they are part of UEFA tournaments.” Through football teams, “people know and want Europe, and already see it as a united force.”
“More ordinary people have been to enlargement countries to watch football matches than politicians have for institutional visits,” Coughlan puts it bluntly. Thinking about the “guys and girls in the jerseys of European clubs and national teams” going off to football matches, she urges the current EU governments and institutions to “do better and reassure our citizens that the European Union is the best club to belong to” – even in a Union of 30+ members.
Beyond football, bringing the process “back to basics”
According to Coughlan, at such a crucial moment for the EU enlargement process, there is an urgent need to reassure all EU citizens that “our freedoms and rights are secure” and that “there is no competition” in opening the Union to “engineers, teachers and workers from North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro,” or other candidate countries.
As an Irish person, the Cork County councillor and CoR member can attest to the benefits of EU membership. “In Ireland, we exponentially improved our situation with accession – cohesion funding, opportunities and jobs came, the CAP helped farmers, environmental awareness increased and the status of women improved.” And now, “we want to share these benefits with others.”
The six-month Irish Presidency of the Council is about to begin on 1 July, and there are high expectations in Brussels that Dublin will bring fresh energy to the process, as it has in the past. “Ireland welcomed 10 countries in 2004 and that was unprecedented,” Coughlan recalls, highlighting how that “spearheaded the expansion of rights” across the continent. Now, she says, it is time to complete this project, “but not at the cost of merit, because we cannot destabilise the rule of law within the EU.”
As co-chair of the CoR Working Group with Kosovo and rapporteur on the 2025 Enlargement Package, Coughlan makes clear that “the 27 members are strong and are working well, but we need to include our neighbours – nobody should be left behind.” Urging progress on “the promises we gave to these countries,” she does not cut corners when it comes to respect for the rule of law. “It has to be at the core of all countries and their EU membership.”
At the same time, she proposes “bringing the process back to basics at the local level,” allowing local politicians to talk to each other as they do through the CoR, “to try to come to some consensus through direct discussion.” The European Union already has the necessary levers of power and, “as local representatives, we can share that power,” the Irish county councillor concludes with a concrete example: “We need structures whereby civil servants and local authorities from candidate countries would go on study trips to member states to understand how to apply for grants.”
