European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks of the need to prepare European institutions for the upcoming enlargement in the 30+ format.

She voiced the corresponding vision on Wednesday, speaking at the European Parliament with the annual "State of the Union" address. This is the last address of the current composition of the European Commission, since in 2024 the next parliamentary elections will be held in the EU, following which a new composition of the European Commission will be formed.

"It is clearly in Europe's strategic and security interests to complete our Union. But beyond the politics and geopolitics of it, we need to picture what is at stake. We need to set out a vision for a successful enlargement. A Union complete with over 500 million people living in a free, democratic and prosperous Union," von der Leyen believes.

The European Commission's President said the accession of a candidate country to the EU "is not an easy road." "Accession is merit-based – and the Commission will always defend this principle. It takes hard work and leadership. But there is already a lot of progress. We have seen the great strides Ukraine has already made since we granted them candidate status. And we have seen the determination of other candidate countries to reform. It is now time for us to match that determination. And that means thinking about how we get ready for a completed Union," she said.

Von der Leyen called the upcoming expansion 30+, which also requires changes to existing treaties. "But we cannot – and we should not – wait for Treaty change to move ahead with enlargement," the President of the European Commission said.

In this regard, she announced the upcoming review by the European Commission of existing EU policies to "see how they would be affected by a larger Union." " This is why the Commission will start working on a series of pre-enlargement policy reviews to see how each area may need to be adapted to a larger Union. We will need to think about how our institutions would work – how the Parliament and the Commission would look. We need to discuss the future of our budget – in terms of what it finances, how it finances it, and how it is financed. These are questions we must address today if we want to be ready for tomorrow," von der Leyen said.

The President of the European Commission also announced that she intends to submit the ideas of the Commission for discussion by leaders under the presidency of Belgium (Belgium will chair the EU in the first half of 2024).

At the same time, she especially said the basis of the Union, both existing in its current format and after expansion, is respect for human rights and the rule of law, "in which judiciaries are independent, oppositions are respected, and journalists are protected." "Because the rule of law and fundamental rights will always be the foundation of our Union – in current and in future Member States. This is why the Commission has made the Rule of Law Reports a key priority. We now work closely with Member States to identify progress and concerns – and make recommendations for the year ahead... I believe that it can do the same for future Member States. This is why I am very happy to announce that we will open the Rule of Law Reports to those accession countries who get up to speed even faster. This will place them on an equal footing with Member States. And support them in their reform efforts. And it will help ensure that our future is a Union of freedom, rights and values for all," von der Leyen said.