Through its President, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission has officially recommended the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine, but also – and this equally affects the future of the EU – with Moldova. .
Especially since in the same vein, here is the EU which spans the Black Sea to Georgia. Indeed, the European executive also announced that it had recommended granting Georgia official candidate status for entry into the EU. Madamevon der Leyen said she was responding to the “aspirations of the overwhelming majority of its citizens to join the EU”.
For the record, Georgia is currently a country partly occupied by Russia since 2008. As for Moldova, this small country regularly denounces attempts at destabilization on the part of Moscow. Finally, in the list of countries which are far from being a sinecure, let us add Bosnia. The European Commission is also showing itself favorable to the opening of accession negotiations with this country, which although it is closer to us in the heart of the Balkans, still remains a political powder keg.
The verse of the singer Renaud may then come to mind: “Dad, when are we going to do what? “.
Since the fall of the Wall, the debate on the enlargement of Europe has been posed in terms of the capacity to add to the European Single Market countries that are largely less developed than the Carolingian industrial base of the EU. We talked about “selfishness of the founding countries” versus “historical debt” with at the heart the hope of continental peace supported by common values.
The new enlargements are of another dimension which is added to the previous ones. It is a question of assuming border relations “ad vitam aeternam” with Russia, but also of entering directly into the Turkish and Iranian spheres of influence. Bordering Georgia is fragile Armenia, which it will no longer be so easy to abandon to its fate since its break with big brother Russia.
The European project can possibly, although with difficulty, be expanded to the extreme, assimilating less prosperous states, which cost the common fund. But can it accept borders which are in contradiction with its only DNA, that is to say peace through de facto solidarity, or a community of destiny without legions or imperial appetite?
This article is originally published on sauvonsleurope.eu