"Of course the economic model that we have today is not one that would survive with 32 or 33 [member states]. But now is when we need to have that conversation. We’ve already started in the parliament," Metsola told a British newspaper.
Metsola added that particular membership benefits, such as lifting of a number of trade barriers or an access to the mobile phone free roaming in the EU, can be shared with future candidates before their official accession.
The EU should be prepared for Ukraine's efforts to join the bloc, with "nothing off the table," including giving Ukraine access to European internal markets before it joins the EU, the EU official said.
22 September 2023, 19:02 GMT
European leaders granted candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine at a summit in Brussels on June 23, 2022. Negotiations on their accession to the bloc will start once the two countries meet a number of conditions set out in the European Commission's opinion on their EU membership application, including certain political reforms.
Achieving candidate status is only the beginning of a rather long road to joining the bloc. Turkiye has been a candidate country since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010, and Serbia since 2012. The most recent country to join the EU is Croatia, which did so in 2013, 10 years after submitting an application for membership.