Five EU countries float safeguards for future EU members ​

BRUSSELS, June 9 (Reuters) - ‌The European ​Union ​should discuss the option of temporarily limiting some voting rights of the bloc’s future ‌new members and creating more rule-of-law safeguards, Germany, ⁠France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg wrote in a joint ‌paper seen by Reuters ‌on Tuesday.

With Montenegro hoping to join the EU in 2028 and Albania, Ukraine and Moldova pushing ​to make progress on their accession bids, discussions are ongoing among European governments about whether rules ⁠for new members should change.

Some capitals are now pushing for the ​EU to develop stronger safeguards for future members, due in part to the bloc's experience ​with democratic backsliding in Hungary under ‌previous Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The paper outlined possible options that could be written ⁠into future accession treaties, including a new monitoring mechanism and a safeguard clause which would allow measures to ⁠be taken in case of serious backsliding in areas such ​as democracy and media freedom.

"The EU should have an in-depth discussion on the possibility of temporary, transitional limitations of voting ‌rights for new Member States, in particular parts of the EU-acquis where unanimity ‌is required," the five countries wrote, pointing to enlargement, ⁠foreign policy, and ‌EU budget decisions where ​consent of all member countries is currently needed.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer Editing by Gareth ‌Jones)

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