Politico: The European Union is preparing "rewards" for candidate countries

The new mechanism will allow prospective members to receive specific "rewards" as early as the accession negotiations stage

The European Commission is continuing to work on a plan that would grant economic benefits to countries seeking to join the European Union. This was reported by the newspaper Politico citing two unnamed officials familiar with the matter.

A model is being discussed in Brussels provisional membership For Ukraine, this is a status with a grand-sounding name but without any real rights or access to resources. For Kyiv, this could serve either as a springboard for integration or as a trap of "eternal limbo."

Candidate countries will be able to receive certain "benefits" even before accession, though without voting rights or other political powers, which previously blocked similar initiatives. In this way, the governments of member states are seeking ways to accelerate the enlargement process without lowering the requirements for future members.

The initiative is part of the "step-by-step integration" approach. It provides that candidate countries will gradually gain broader access to EU opportunities as they implement the necessary reforms, even while accession negotiations are still ongoing.

Possible benefits include access to certain EU funding programs, preferential trade terms, and partial access to the single market even before full membership is granted.

The specific package will be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the progress of each candidate country. It is expected that such incentives will help governments carry out politically challenging reforms, even if full EU membership is still several years away.

Unlike previous ideas of so-called "reverse enlargement," which called for granting political rights to candidate countries even before the accession process was completed (a plan that EU member states did not support), the concept of phased integration offers economic benefits similar to those enjoyed by EU members, but without full membership.

The new initiative already has broader political support than previous proposals. France and Germany have previously spoken out in favor of a similar "light membership" model for countries whose accession to the European Union could take years. European officials believe that this time, such an approach will have a better chance of being approved.