Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Why the EU Needs to Expand" video.

It's always extremely difficult to do treaty reforms in the EU, but they always seem to find a way, usually by locking them in a dungeon until they all come to an agreement lol. I feel serious talks on treaty change needs to start happening around 2025, if we keep delaying it, those countries that want to join the EU will eventually give up on the idea of EU membership and will look elseware, worse yet, the EU is making it difficult for these countries to reform themselves so they can become members of the EU, the EU is giving little to no hope that the door on EU membership is even open, regardless of what reforms those countries do, that's a major issue, because without hope, it's hard for these countries to get the political and public will to do the reforms needed to join, worse yet, if the door stays firmly shut, these countries will eventually lose interest and look at other alternatives, or worse, some might become authoritarian like Turkey did. So yes, the EU needs to do a lot of reforms and before 2030, but it also needs to send a strong credible message that the door to EU membership is open, based on merit, whereas at the moment, many of these countries feel that it doesn't matter what reforms they do, the door is still firmly shut with the EU Commission being the major problem here, they are sending the wrong message to these countries which the likes of Russia and China are taking advantage off.
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Reforms are needed to the EU, especially on veto rules before the EU can expand, but I do agree that the ball needs to be moving faster, but that isn't a green light for countries joining the EU in a fast track way, those countries that want to join still need to do the reforms needed to join. Geopolitics is another reason the EU really needs to expand, you've got Russia to the east that their values are very different from western values, which are more controlling than open, then we have China, which is an expanding power, the EU longer term is going to have to expand a lot to compete with them longer term and the EU and US might have to get a lot closer together to compete with China in the long run. Then we have the US, the US are friends with Europeans but it's clear there is a drift in many areas, and the US seems to be getting a lot more erratic over the last two decades that makes them less reliable, there's also the factor that the US doesn't really have European interest at heart, we're on friendly terms but there are many times when the US is more than happy to try and hurt European interest, only for the EU to counter it, not to mention that when it comes to social democracy, US values are very different from European values in the EU and if we want to protect that, we're going to have to become bigger, otherwise I feel the likes of the US and China will try to force us to water them down, the US has tried that over the decades, especially when it comes to health care. There's also the factor of more integration, expanding the EU is all well and good but more integration is needed, especially among Euro Zone countries, because like it or not, they are the core of the EU, the rest don't matter as much and the ones in the Euro are more likely to want to reform the EU than the ones out of it, with the exception of a few none Euro Zone countries that want in but don't quality yet. Also, normally the pace of joining the EU isn't with the EU its self but with the country that wants to join, they can speed up or slow down the progress depending on how quickly they do the reforms needed, which sounds easy on paper but in reality, we are talking about reforming a lot of the political, economic and social system of a country, with the aim of modernising them, that transformation takes decades, but some do it much quicker than others because they don't drag their feet. Normally that's how it works, but now it's a bit different in that the EU can't let new countries in until it reforms its self so it can manage with more members, these reforms should have been happening years ago and are long overdue, and I do think a solid message needs to be sent out but inside the EU and to countries that want to join the EU that the door is open to that, basically, for quite some time, it felt like it didn't matter what reforms those countries did, the EU door was shut tight, if those countries start to give up on the idea of joining the EU, they will look elseware or it could allow the kind of government to gain power that we see in Turkey, the EU needs to send the message that if those countries put the reforms in, they can join, that would pull many of these countries from drifting towards Russia and China and I think there needs to be serious talks on reforming the EU by 2025, with it being concluded, well before 2030 and with the policy that countries could potentially join by 2030, likely starting out with the smaller countries, either way, send a message of hope to these countries and not gaslight them and they might be a lot more cooperative in doing the reforms the EU asks of them, whereas at the moment, they feel the EU door is shut and not opening any time soon, that makes it much harder to get the political will for those countries to do the reforms needed to join the EU. Also, I'm well aware that many will say that the EU isn't ready to expand because of the troubles with Hungary and Poland, but we should put things into perspective, around 13 countries joined over the last 20 decade, most of them have been successful in integrating, because we've got one or two bad lemons, doesn't mean that expansion hasn't been a success, it's been a major success so far, but the EU needs to get a lot tougher on countries like Hungary and Poland that break the rule, something the European Parliament has wanted to do for some time, so clearly the EU Commission is the problem, which has allowed those two countries to get away with too much which sends the wrong message to other members, that the rules can be broken, the EU really needs to get it's act together in holding countries to account when they break the rules that they agreed to when joining the EU. In any event, the deadline has been set for 2030, a lot of these countries that want to join the EU will be looking at that deadline and will be thinking, if there is no major reform from the EU side and a clear message that if the countries that want to join, can if they do the reforms needed, I suspect a lot of those countries will give up on the idea of EU members and look elseware, maybe even form their own mini EU, in the end, these countries are not going to wait around for every for the EU to get its act together, there's needs to be a strong and clear message that if enough reforms are done, they can join and for me, the EU Commission is the major problem here, because they keep constantly putting blocks in the ways, regardless of what reforms these countries do, it's not hard to understand why these countries are losing faith in the idea of joining the EU and why reforms are becoming difficult for them, because they are losing hope in the idea.
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@TheRanguna I think what he means is that it doesn't matter what reforms these countries do, the EU will keep the door firmly shut, the EU Commission likes to talk about merit, but a lot of these countries are thinking that it doesn't matter how much they change, the EU still won't let them in, with that kind of thinking, many of these countries will in time give up on the idea of EU membership and if that happen, China, Russia will take advantage of that at the expense of the EU, there's also the possibility that those countries that are stuck in the waiting room might form their own mini EU. Don't get me wrong, these countries have to do the reforms needed to join, it's based on merit, but let's be honest with ourselves, merit isn't what's blocking these countries from joining, the EU is, mainly because the EU have been painfully slow in reforming the EU to allow it to expand, these countries are not blind, they know it's not based on merit and that the EU Commission is gaslighting them and I do wonder with Turkey, would they be in the position they are in now if the EU was more open to membership, based on merit and reforms off course, Turkey give up on the idea of EU membership, many others will follow if the EU doesn't get it's act together.
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