Marta Kos: New EU member States Could Be Put on “Probation” and Excluded

Marta Kos (BETAPHOTO/European Commission/Xavier Lejeune)

New EU member states could be put on “probation” to prevent them from acting as Russia’s ‘Trojan horses’ once they join the bloc, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has told Nov. 4 issue of the Financial Times.   

She said that under a proposal aimed at reducing concerns about new entrants emulating Hungary, they could be put on “probation” for a few years and excluded from the bloc in case of democratic backsliding. 

“I do not want to be remembered as the commissioner bringing in the Trojan horses who will be then active in five, 10 or 15 years,” Kos told the Financial Times. She also said that the EU Commission was working on ideas such as a “transition period, a kind of probation, safeguards”, adding though that they were in an early stage.

Kos, according to the Financial Times, acknowledged that some EU member states were privately far more cautious about admitting new members than their public statements of support would suggest. 

The EU’s enlargement chief further said the Commission was working on proposals that would include stronger rule of law safeguards and more efficient mechanisms to suspend rights or benefits if core values were violated. A country could potentially be excluded from the EU in case of repeated breaches, she stressed.

Kos rejected accusations that the proposed overhaul would result in a “two-tier” EU membership, adding that future members were likely to commit to upholding the rule of law and avoid having any restrictions imposed on them.