EU drafts plan to grant economic benefits to candidate countries before accession

The European Commission is preparing a new “gradual integration” framework that would give EU candidate countries access to selected EU funding programmes, preferential trade arrangements and partial participation in the single market before they become full members. The package would be calibrated to each country's reform progress, rewarding those that align their legislation and implement reforms with greater economic incentives. The plan is intended to accelerate enlargement without lowering accession criteria, and it differs from earlier “reverse‑enlargement” proposals that offered political rights early. France and Germany have voiced strong support, and the Commission aims to secure backing from all member states at an European Council meeting slated for October or December. The framework is seen as a way to keep candidates such as Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and the Western Balkans on the reform track amid the war in Ukraine. As euro‑parliamentarian Petras Auštrevičius noted, “there must be parallel but necessary economic integration.”