France Advocates Founding of European Political Community

Emmanuel Macron(BETAPHOTO/HINA/POOL/Damir SENCAR/MO)

According to an unofficial French document, French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed European Political Community would enable the strengthening of ties with the EU before actual membership but would in no way replace the EU’s enlargement process or existing Pan-European organizations and cooperation processes.

The proposal, which BETA was privy to and which will be discussed at the June 23 and 24 sessions of the European Council, explains that the Political Community would be open to all European states that share common democratic values, regardless of EU membership.

With a “light legal structure” and “decision-making capacity” that at once respects the autonomous choices of its members and the EU, the European Political Community would entail its members’ ministers and heads of state or government convening several times a year.

The document underlined that the Political Community would in no way represent an alternative to EU membership but would rather serve the opposite purpose. “For European states wishing to join the European Union, it would. . . allow for the strengthening of links with EU member states prior to accession, both politically and in terms of accompanying participation in certain EU policies, including, where appropriate, through gradual integration into the EU internal market,” the document stated.

It was further said that the Community would also not aim to replace the Council of Europe, OSCE or transatlantic relations.

Instead, the European Political Community would serve to fulfill a gap created by the necessarily lengthy accession process: the need “to respond to the urgent historical and geopolitical needs arising from the war against Ukraine and to develop the political structuring of [the] European continent,” the proposal concludes.