EU can no longer deny peaceful state developments like Catalonia and Scotland

“Instead of external enlargement, the EU should be concentrating on internal expansion," states Belgian Member of Parliament Peter Luykx. “Developments in stateless nations like Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Flanders are natural processes.”

Today Brexit is on the agenda loud and clear. From now until the day of the British referendum we will be bombarded with arguments for or against. A possible Brexit, the rapprochement with Turkey and the recent application for membership by Bosnia are putting the talks on the enlargement of the European Union back on track. Instead of external enlargement, I advocate that the EU should be concentrating on internal expansion. As a result of the in/out referendum in the UK, it is possible that Scotland might make its reappearance on the European agenda. And the Catalan government and president Carles Puigdemont have opted resolutely to implement their Roadmap for Independency. Who stays, who goes?

Positions are being adopted on the in/out referendum in the UK. The outcome of the British referendum is reawakening the conviction among many Scots that their own future lies outside the UK but inside the European Union.

Earlier last week, the Bosnian government also applied for an EU membership. Madrid and Barcelona are squabbling over whether an independent Catalonia can or can’t stay in Europe. Turkey was promised a few months ago that some new chapters in the accession negotiations would be opened. The EU frankly resembles a dovecote.

Further deepening required

Let us be clear: the EU has 28 member states today. Because the most recent round of external enlargements has not even been fully digested yet, further deepening should be carried out first before there can be talks of a possible additional expansion.

For the expansion, the Copenhagen criteria are the basic principles. These include having stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law and a functioning market economy. None of these apply to Bosnia-Herzegovina or Turkey. With skyrocketing youth unemployment (over 60%), the lowest GDP The gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country, both by companies and the government. This term is usually used as a benchmark for a country’s prosperity. This is why the N-VA closely follows the evolution of the Belgian GDP. GDP per capita on the European continent and a deep-rooted corruption, Bosnia’s request was nonetheless welcomed enthusiastically by High Representative Federica Mogherini. She stated confidently that the accession is a good thing for both Bosnia and the Union.

Credibility and reorganisation

This enthusiasm stands in stark contrast to the negative attitude reigning in European circles about the developments in Catalonia and Scotland. It is a contradiction that for example Scotland or Catalonia, which have been members of the EU for years upon years, would one day be rejected from the Union, while countries such as Turkey or Bosnia and Herzegovina would be allowed to join. That makes no sense at all.

Instead of external enlargement, the EU should be concentrating on internal expansion. Developments in stateless nations like Scotland, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Flanders are natural processes. What’s happening is an evolution, not a revolution. The EU can no longer deny or evade this peaceful state development.

Deciding otherwise would undermine the credibility and principles of the EU itself (democracy and freedom). The crux of the matter is that citizens of an EU Member State should not be punished by losing their EU citizenship and associated rights (which are guaranteed by the European Treaties and the European Court of Justice) when that Member State reorganises internally. A new state that comes into being as a result of internal expansion should automatically become a member of the EU. It would obviously have to comply with the membership conditions during a transitional period.