Alyssa Mcmurtry
06 October 2023•Update: 07 October 2023
OVIEDO, Spain
The EU adopted a joint declaration in the Spanish city of Granada on Friday that included a section about enlargement, but left out any mention of migration.
Heading into Friday’s talks, there was tangible tension with Hungary and Poland over a key part of a migration pact agreed upon by the EU member states earlier this week.
“Poland and Hungary were not satisfied with the proposal, but they pushed us … because legally we are raped. So if you are raped legally, forced to accept something that you don’t like, how would you like to have a compromise and agreement? It’s impossible,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the media on Friday.
On Wednesday, Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska hailed the migration agreement on crisis situations as a “huge step forward,” saying it put the EU in “a better position to reach an agreement on the entire asylum and migration pact with the European Parliament by the end of this semester.”
But it seemed to be more of a sticking point that held up talks on Europe’s broader strategic direction. Although migration was omitted from the Granda declaration, European leaders said it emerged as a key issue.
“All the debates are emotional and ideological,” European Council President Charles Michel said in a press conference after the event. "We need to make progress on migration and I think a substantial step forward has been taken."
Michel said that there was broad consensus about the need to prioritize protecting the EU’s external borders and providing support to countries that are the source of migration or that deal with transit.
However, the countries were successful in solidifying language around enlargement, however vague.
The declaration stated that the EU enlargement is “a geo-strategic investment in peace, security, stability, and prosperity,” and called on aspiring members to “step up their reform efforts in line with the merit-based nature” of the process.
"It is not merit-based, it is not automatic, and it is not one-size fits all … in the past, we have seen that countries that wanted to join, some were faster and some never made it," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The declaration also included Europe’s commitment to lay the necessary internal groundwork and reforms for amplifying the union beyond the 27 members. “We have to do our homework too,” said von der Leyen.
There are currently eight official candidates waiting to join the EU, including Türkiye.
When asked why there was no mention of when the EU could be open to enlargement, Michel said that there was some debate over including a date, but countries did not agree to commit to a timeline.
“First and foremost, we need to look at the progress made by countries. If they are ambitious and they want to be ready, then they can by 2030,” he said. “But we have to stop procrastinating, we need to turn to those who want to join us and say we are serious. We need to end their feeling of being ignored and forgotten over as many as 20 years.”
The Granada declaration also included the EU’s commitment to continue building its military, energy security, and partnerships outside of Europe.
Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who hosted the meeting as part of Spain’s rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, said the two days of intense negotiations in the city of Granada were “worth it.”
“Granada will always be linked to the political will to continue deepening the European project,” he said, adding that Spain is open to welcoming new members to the EU.
