{"id":699069,"date":"2026-01-16T03:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/699069\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T03:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:56:12","slug":"countries-split-over-plans-for-two-tier-eu-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/699069\/","title":{"rendered":"Countries split over plans for two-tier EU \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAs a small country, it\u2019s very clear our interest is to be part of a community, of a family, and be part of the programs that make up the EU, and not at all to be an equal decision-maker as countries that have been at the origin of this organization and are much more powerful,\u201d Zourabichvili told POLITICO. \u201cI think it\u2019s very logical if you want to have an organization that can take decisions efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/13625534-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7773819\"  \/>Edi Rama, prime minister of Albania said the measures are a \u201cgood idea\u201d and that his country would even accept for a period of time not having a commissioner of its own in Brussels. | Pool photo by Yoan Valat\/EPA<\/p>\n<p>Moldova, whose membership application is twinned with that of Ukraine, has said it wants to see the details of the proposals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe stand ready to assume responsibilities at an early stage and would welcome the opportunity to participate in, and help shape, these discussions,\u201d said a\u00a0senior\u00a0Moldovan official, granted anonymity to speak frankly. \u201cAt the same time, full membership \u2014 with equal rights and full participation in EU decision-making \u2014 must remain the clear and ultimate objective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine, which has conducted wide-ranging reforms as part of the accession process even as it faces Russia\u2019s aggression, has been reluctant to support the idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we speak about EU membership, it has to be fully-fledged,\u201d President Volodymyr Zelenskyy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/2025\/11\/04\/exclusive-zelenskyy-says-our-future-is-in-the-european-union\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Montenegro, the candidate country most advanced on its accession path, also insists there is no need to revisit the terms under which it is granted membership, and expects to conclude the vetting process this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAs a small country, it\u2019s very clear our interest is to be part of a community, of a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[10541,43669,6561,2000,299,5187,2307,60437,13491,25482,6564,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-699069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-albania","9":"tag-edi-rama","10":"tag-enlargement","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-georgia","15":"tag-marta-kos","16":"tag-moldova","17":"tag-montenegro","18":"tag-neighborhood","19":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115902767961170430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}