Good morning. Angela Skujins here with a look at the intensifying debate over how the European Union should grow, as the bloc's enlargement process takes centre stage in Brussels.
My colleague Luca Bertuzza has an exclusive report this morning on how the European Commission is quietly revising its proposals to overhaul the cumbersome accession method. According to his sources, the flurry of ideas from national capitals has increasingly sidelined the EU executive. Currently, all 27 member states must unanimously agree to open or close any of the 35 policy chapters in accession negotiations, giving a single country the power to block progress.
Associate Membership and Ukraine's Firm Stance
One of the more buzzy ideas to emerge is German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's proposal for an "associate membership" status — a kind of EU-lite arrangement where a candidate country joins the bloc but does not receive all the benefits. This idea has been firmly rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has been pushing for full membership since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. "I didn't want symbolic membership for Ukraine," Zelenskyy said, "as soldiers and civilians were not symbolically being killed by Russia."
The Commission has been consulting with capitals on their ideas, aiming for a clear deadline. "We are looking forward to the upcoming strategic discussion on enlargement and reforms at the EUCO meeting in October this year," a spokesperson told Luca. Vsevolod Chentsov, Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union, added on Euronews' Europe Today that the focus should be on substance, not titles. "There were several ideas how to get Ukraine closer, and I think we just need to work together and to make sure that Ukraine already feels benefit of benefits of enlargement already on this stage," he said.
The urgency of Ukraine's accession was underscored overnight when Russia launched waves of missiles and drones at Kyiv and the surrounding region, killing at least ten people and wounding dozens. The attack, which involved ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones, sent civilians scrambling into metro stations. It came just hours after Zelenskyy warned that Moscow was preparing a new large-scale strike timed between US Independence Day and the NATO summit in Ankara. He has urged allies to accelerate deliveries of air defence missiles, particularly Patriot systems, warning that any delay "means the loss of lives." For more on this, see our story on Ukraine Presses for NATO Support and EU Membership Amid Renewed Russian Attacks.
Von der Leyen's Ankara Balancing Act
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is among a group of senior EU officials heading to Ankara for the annual NATO summit from Tuesday to Wednesday. Defence spending, support for Ukraine, and transatlantic security are expected to dominate talks. It is assumed US President Donald Trump will press the 32 alliance members on how they are meeting the 3.5% of GDP spending target agreed last year. But as my colleague Shona Murray scooped last week, the final declaration should include an ironclad commitment to Article 5 — the principle that an attack on one is an attack on all.
The meeting comes at a delicate time for von der Leyen, who must smooth over a major geopolitical gaffe she made in April about the host country. During a public event in Hamburg, she said Europe must succeed in completing the continent so that it is not influenced by Russia, Türkiye or China. To recap: Türkiye has been an EU accession country since 1999, with negotiations formally starting in 2005. Von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa will sit down with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the final day of the summit to possibly explain this blunder. The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was sent in last week with a top team to discuss trade and security, a move many saw as the first step to paper over the mistake.
German MEP Engin Eroglu, who is of Turkish descent, told me this meeting could go beyond the "quarrels of the past" and potentially deepen Ankara's relationship with Europe, particularly in the supply of weapons and military capabilities. Only time will tell how the meeting will actually go down — and where the leaders will sit.
Sanctions and the Price Cap
Also to watch: EU countries have less than 10 days to agree on a new package of sanctions against Russia before the bloc automatically updates its price cap on 15 July, as Euronews' sanctions expert Jorge Liboreiro reports. Under the formula set up last year, the cap must be adjusted every six months to remain 15% below the average market price of Urals crude. Urals soared after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, meaning the upcoming revision would likely push the cap from the current $44 per barrel to more than $60 per barrel, giving Moscow an economic reprieve. Ambassadors will hold at least two meetings this week to advance the proposed sanctions package, which envisions delaying the automatic revision until January next year to ensure Russia does not gain the energy upper hand.
For deeper analysis on the Commission's reform proposals, read Luca's exclusive: EU Commission Drafts Enlargement Reforms to Reclaim Initiative from Member States.
