The European Union must get bigger or risk facing a "new Iron Curtain" along its eastern flank, European Council President Charles Michel said Monday as the bloc marks 20 years since its largest ever enlargement.
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00:00 "The European Union must accept new members from its eastern flank and the Western Balkans
00:07 or face a new Iron Curtain," Charles Michel has said.
00:11 The European Council President spoke to Euronews as the bloc celebrates 20 years since the
00:16 so-called Big Bang enlargement of 2004, when 10 countries with a combined population of
00:21 75 million were granted EU membership.
00:25 "This is vital for the future of the EU because we thought enlargement is in fact a risk for
00:30 a new Iron Curtain and this would be extremely dangerous if you would have an unstable neighbourhood
00:37 with a lack of prosperity, a lack of economic development. These are common interests, the
00:42 candidate countries and the EU to make progress, to speed up. I am confident because I feel
00:48 that the leaders, a vast majority of them, they are absolutely convinced this is important
00:54 for the future."
00:56 Nine countries are waiting in the wings to join the European Union, including war-torn
01:01 Ukraine. But the accession process is long and complex, with steps on the path to full-fledged
01:07 membership requiring the unanimous approval of all EU member states. Hungary has already
01:14 threatened to wield its veto power to block Ukraine's accession. But Michel is confident
01:20 that it won't stop the EU from fast-tracking candidate countries' bids.
01:24 "For instance, with EU, the country has tension, which is giving the possibility for a country
01:30 to say, 'Look, I don't like and I'm not very comfortable with this decision and I make
01:34 public my opinion, but I don't want to block the vast majority of the member states which
01:39 would like to make progress in a certain field, a certain domain."
01:43 Michel has previously said that the EU has to be ready to accept new members by 2030.
01:50 And he said this week that the most advanced countries could already join the bloc by the
01:54 end of this decade.
01:55 (electronic whirring)