{"id":109240,"date":"2026-06-16T17:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/109240\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T17:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:33:10","slug":"eu-safeguard-mechanisms-jamnews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/109240\/","title":{"rendered":"EU safeguard mechanisms\/ JAMnews"},"content":{"rendered":"

EU safeguard mechanisms<\/p>\n

A new initiative being discussed in Brussels, which could limit veto powers and introduce \u201csafeguard mechanisms\u201d for future EU members, has triggered a sharp political reaction in Georgia<\/a>. Parliament Speaker\u00a0Shalva Papuashvili\u00a0accused the bloc of \u201clegal segregation\u201d and argued that accession under such conditions would be incompatible with the country\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n

Marta Kos\u00a0said the proposed reform was intended to protect the\u00a0European Union\u00a0from possible democratic backsliding by future members rather than discriminate against them. However, Papuashvili likened the proposal to the model once used by the\u00a0Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

What happened<\/p>\n

The debate in Brussels intensified after the EU formally opened accession negotiations with\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0and\u00a0Moldova\u00a0on 15 June. During a meeting in\u00a0Luxembourg, journalists asked Marta Kos how the bloc intended to ensure that future members, including Ukraine, would not abuse veto powers or paralyse the EU\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Kos confirmed that accession treaties to be signed with\u00a0Montenegro\u00a0and subsequent candidate countries would be \u201cnext-generation\u201d agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have safeguard mechanisms that ensure new member states continue to comply with European rules even five, 10 or 15 years after accession. If a new member state follows the rules, nothing will happen. But if it does not, these mechanisms will be activated very firmly,\u201d Kos said.<\/p>\n


\n \"MEP
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Reaction in Georgia<\/p>\n

The response in Georgia was swift and sharply critical.\u00a0Shalva Papuashvili\u00a0published a lengthy social media post arguing that the proposal would effectively turn the\u00a0European Union\u00a0into a union of \u201cfirst-class\u201d and \u201csecond-class\u201d nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn practice, this means that the European Union would be able to make decisions on issues of vital importance to Georgia\u2019s national interests without Georgia\u2019s participation. We already have 70 years of experience of belonging to a nominal and unequal union, and we have no intention of repeating it,\u201d Papuashvili said.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s case<\/p>\n

Brussels argues that such reforms are unavoidable, largely because of its long-running experience with\u00a0Hungary. During the tenure of former prime minister\u00a0Viktor Orban, Budapest repeatedly used its veto power to block aid for\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0and sanctions against\u00a0Russia, prompting the EU to freeze Hungarian funds.\u00a0France\u00a0and\u00a0Germany\u00a0have long argued that further enlargement should be accompanied by mechanisms preventing the emergence of a \u201csecond Hungary\u201d.<\/p>\n

German Chancellor\u00a0Friedrich Merz\u00a0has proposed an alternative model under which Ukraine would receive a form of \u201cassociate membership\u201d, granting representation in EU institutions without voting rights.<\/p>\n

However, both\u00a0Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u00a0and Enlargement Commissioner\u00a0Marta Kos\u00a0have firmly rejected the idea. Kos said there is no such thing as \u201chalf-membership\u201d and that full integration can only take place once all accession criteria have been met.<\/p>\n

The opening of the first negotiating cluster with Ukraine and\u00a0Moldova\u00a0became possible after\u00a0Peter Magyar\u00a0came to power following elections in Hungary, easing Budapest\u2019s previously hard-line position and allowing the bloc to move forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EU safeguard mechanisms A new initiative being discussed in Brussels, which could limit veto powers and introduce \u201csafeguard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[104],"tags":[211,210,55242,55243,55244,46182,38502,55245,55246,55247,55248,55249,5711,55250,55251,55252,55253,55254,55255,46201,55256,55257,55258,55259,55260,55261,8470,55262,55263,55264,55265,55266,55267,55268,55269,55270,8477,55271,55272,55273,55274,55275,55276],"class_list":["post-109240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-belgium","tag-brussels","tag-democracy-in-georgia","tag-democracy-rollback","tag-did-eu-suspend-visa-free-travel-with-georgia","tag-eu-georgia","tag-eu-sanctions","tag-eu-sanctions-against-georgian-dream","tag-eu-suspend-visa-free-travel-with-georgia","tag-european-georgia","tag-european-parliament-considers-georgia-sanctions","tag-events-in-georgia","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-eu","tag-georgia-eu-visa-free-regime","tag-georgia-eu-visa-free-regime-suspended","tag-georgia-eu-visa-free-travel","tag-georgia-eu-visa-free-travel-revoked","tag-georgia-may-lose-international-support","tag-georgia-news","tag-georgia-protest","tag-georgia-today","tag-georgia-today-georgian-news","tag-georgias-road-to-europe","tag-georgian","tag-georgian-authorities","tag-georgian-dream","tag-georgian-dream-party","tag-georgian-government","tag-georgian-news","tag-georgian-news-in-georgia","tag-human-rights-in-georgia","tag-human-rights-watch-georgia","tag-journalism-in-georgia","tag-news-around-georgia","tag-news-georgia","tag-news-in-georgia","tag-news-of-georgia","tag-sanctions-against-georgian-dream","tag-sanctions-against-georgian-officials","tag-sanctions-georgian-officials","tag-the-ruling-party-georgian-dream","tag-the-ruling-party-georgian-dreamevents-in-georgia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}