{
  "id": 10370795,
  "title": "Facing Up to Federation",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/facing-up-to-federation",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-28T05:03:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Kyiv Post",
    "slug": "kyiv-post",
    "url": "https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/85527"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The EU's federal credentials necessitate welcoming any European state that aligns with its values, according to Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin's depredations. Beyond British, Icelandic, and Norwegian reluctance, several countries east and south of the EU should join. The Union's self-interest lies in expanding prosperity, security, and the rule of law across its neighborhood. The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, announced a pre-enlargement review three years ago, set to appear on September 30. To uphold steady progress during integration, the Commission will impose stringent conditions on accession states, evaluate EU common policies, and budget robustness. The big question remains whether von der Leyen will reduce national vetoes that impede the emerging federation of states. The Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2007, has not undergone institutional reform. The Council, lacking coordination, insists on unanimity in negotiations, hindering progress on climate change, AI, and other pressing issues. The Commission, backed by the European Parliament, holds the duty to act, but the passerelle, which shifts decision-making from unanimity to qualified majority voting, can only be deployed by unanimity, never utilized. Von der Leyen must table a formal proposal to amend the decision-making procedure to employ the passerelle with a threshold of four-fifths of member states representing two-thirds of the EU population. This, along with removing the right of a single national parliament to block the passerelle, should be endorsed by the European Parliament and ratified by national parliaments.",
  "summary": "Ukraine’s prospective EU accession exposes a key challenge: the EU cannot enlarge successfully while national vetoes continue to paralyze decision-making. Ursula von der Leyen and the EU Commission should therefore consider targeted treaty reforms, enabling qualified-majority activation of the passerelle clause, removing national parliamentary blocks and suppressing Article 353 TFEU. These…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}