Process and institutional challenges in enlargements

Another significant enlargement of the EU is on the horizon. In the light of the experience of the 2004 enlargement of 10 new Member States in a single step, a number of sensitive institutional issues will inevitably have to be reactivated: a further extension of qualified majority voting (QMV) to facilitate decision-making among a larger number of members, together with a review of the threshold for this QMV; the number of additional members of the European Parliament for the new Member States; and the number of Commissioners: has the time come for fewer Commissioners than Member States?