Veto flood against the EU

Veto Flood against EU Applicants: Who blocks whom and why? October 16, 2026 The last EU enlargement was a long time ago - Croatia joined the European Union in 2013. Now it could be time again: The small Adriatic country Montenegro, with 620,000 inhabitants, could complete the accession negotiations in the coming months and become an EU member at the beginning of 2028. This was recently announced by the EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos. This announcement contained the news that Croatia could exercise its veto against Montenegro's accession if the country does not meet a series of Croatian demands. EU politicians and MEPs reacted with dismay. No wonder: The right of individual EU member states to veto in many aspects of the European Union has been more often abused as an instrument of blackmail and as a political weapon, with which some members have paralyzed the EU. Hungary's ousted autocrat Viktor Orbán, for example, drove the Union to despair with his vetoes and veto threats. DW explains the most important cases, their backgrounds - and the partly serious political consequences of the veto policy. Montenegro: Croatia presents eight demands Montenegro is the furthest advanced accession candidate with the prospect of accession from 2028. The country has already provisionally concluded several of the 33 EU negotiation chapters and could conclude the others in the coming months. This is "too fast," said Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman recently. The Croatian government specified the demands that it has been making to Montenegro for a long time. The official wording is that this is to "facilitate" Montenegro's accession. A veto threat is implicitly present. Zagreb demands, among other things, compensation for former prisoners from Montenegrin camps during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, the investigation of the fate of Croats who have been missing since then, and more consistent prosecution of war crimes. There are also disputes over the exact maritime border of both countries. Furthermore, Croatia demands payment of around 2.4 billion euros for assets from the former Yugoslav army and the return of the sailing ship "Jadran". While some demands regarding Montenegro's handling of the past seem justified, others, such as those concerning the assets of the Yugoslav army, are controversial. It is clear that the list of demands is also related to Croatian domestic politics. No government in Zagreb can afford to appear lenient on the issue of the Croatian War (1991-1995). Furthermore, the moderately conservative government leader Andrej Plenković, who is often accused of being too pro-EU in Croatia from the right spectrum, can now act as a consistent representative of national interests. Ukraine: Hungarian domestic politics in the name of a minority The EU granted Ukraine, as well as the Republic of Moldova, the status of an EU accession candidate in June 2022 as a gesture of solidarity in the expedited procedure. Many EU states have reservations about Ukraine's rapid accession. However, only Hungary has taken a blocking position so far. Former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán blocked the opening of the first negotiation cluster with Ukraine until his election defeat in April 2026. His successor Magyar lifted this veto in June 2026 but also blocked the opening of further negotiation chapters. Superficially, the Hungarian policy was about improving the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia for Ukraine. Although Ukraine is gradually strengthening the rights of all national minorities since 2023, Orbán has repeatedly portrayed the country as a mafia and lawless state in his campaigns. Overall, he used his veto policy as the biggest domestic political campaign issue. Out of consideration for the widespread anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Hungary, Peter Magyar is also taking a hard tone towards Ukraine. In this way, he is profiling himself as a consistent representative of national interests and those of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. After the Ukrainian parliament adopted a law to strengthen the educational rights of national minorities on Monday (October 12, 2026), the Hungarian government, however, ended its blockade of the opening of further EU negotiation chapters. Macedonia: The endless blockade No EU accession candidate has experienced the veto policy as tragically and for as long as North Macedonia, which was called Macedonia until 2019. It already received the status of an EU accession candidate in 2005. However, EU accession negotiations began only in July 2022. Greece prevented this for 13 years because it objected to the state name "Republic of Macedonia" and accused the neighbor of making territorial claims over the region of Macedonia in North Greece - which Macedonia did not actually have. The Greek stance was complicit in Macedonia's slide into the authoritarian-nationalist regime of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. The conflict was resolved in 2018 by a compromise that was extremely painful for Macedonia, when it changed its name to Republic of North Macedonia in 2019 under international pressure - a historically unprecedented process. But when the way opened to begin EU accession negotiations, it was Bulgaria that blocked the opening of talks in November 2020. Bulgaria sees the Macedonian language as a Bulgarian dialect and disputes that there is an independent Macedonian nation. Ultimately, it is also about Bulgarian domestic politics: for example, the former president and current Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Rumen Radew, drove the escalation in relations with the neighboring country. It was a factor with which he built his own political career. A compromise mediated between Bulgaria and North Macedonia under the French EU Council Presidency in 2022 led to the EU formally opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia in July 2022. The compromise provided that North Macedonia should mention the existence of a Bulgarian ethnic group in the country in the constitution. However, there is still no two-thirds majority in parliament for this. The national-conservative government of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski demands a guarantee from Bulgaria that the blockade will not continue after a constitutional change. Bulgaria rejects this - the blockade therefore continues. Serbia: Croatia slows down - but not alone Serbia has been negotiating EU accession since 2014, but the process has hardly progressed in years. In July 2026, eight EU member states spoke out against the opening of further negotiation chapters with Serbia, including Croatia. While these reservations were mainly about democracy problems, rule of law deficiencies, and corruption in the country, Croatia also has its own conflicts with Serbia. They concern, among other things, the war period of 1991 to 1995 - missing persons, war crimes, minority rights, and different historical interpretations. Relations are also strained by mutual nationalist rhetoric. Albania: Greece threatens over the minority issue With Albania, an EU accession candidate since 2014, the EU opened accession negotiations in July 2022. The country could become the next EU member after Montenegro. However, Greece has repeatedly threatened that it will block the accession process if the rights of the Greek minority - especially property rights - are not sufficiently protected. An end to the veto system? Against the background of these cases and experiences, there has long been a discussion in Brussels about reforms to the accession procedure and the veto system. The EU Commission proposed in early October 2026 to decide on the opening of negotiations with accession candidates by a qualified majority instead of unanimity. According to the proposal, new EU members would also have to commit to refrain from vetoes in certain areas for a certain period. The problem with the reform proposals: they would have to be adopted unanimously. In other words: the reform can be overturned by the veto of a single state.