Scholz called for easier accession to the EU

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that the European Union should facilitate the entry of new members . He stated this in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa).

He stressed that it is time for the organization to prepare for expansion.

To do this, the EU must modernize its structures and decision-making processes. It will not always be possible to decide everything unanimously, even if today the procedure requires unanimity, the chancellor said.

He wants to talk about this at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.

At the summit, the heads of state and government of 27 member countries will consider applications from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The European Commission recommended declaring Ukraine and Moldova as official candidate countries. Candidate status can only be granted unanimously.

The German Chancellor also expressed hope that the summit would give a boost to the countries of the Western Balkans, which have been waiting for EU membership for almost two decades.

We must show the countries of the Western Balkans that we are serious. Albania and North Macedonia are well qualified to start concrete EU accession negotiations - they should start now, Scholz said.

In the EU, there have been discussions for several years about relaxing the rule according to which the status of a candidate must be agreed upon by all 27 member countries unanimously. But any process reforms can only be implemented if there is unanimous support for such changes.

The chancellor hopes to present his proposals at the EU summit scheduled for Thursday and Friday (June 23-24).