We need a request from an EU member state to discuss Internal Enlargement, Barroso says

During the last State of the Union (SoU) address (11 September 2013),  President Barroso focused his intervention on the banking union and crisis exit strategies.

The day after, he took part in the “Global Conversation” of Euronews TV Channel where he engaged in a debate with european citizens through twitter’s hashtag #askbarroso and other social networks. While he mainly reacted to issues arising from his SOU speech the day before, he also accepted and replied to a question on internal enlargement.

#askbarroso what do you think of the idea of internal enlargement after an independence vote within the #EU #indyref https://t.co/ourRBwZKhE

— Coppieters Foundation (@IdeasForEurope) September 12, 2013

In his reply president Barroso put emphasis in 3 main points:

(1) The fact there’s a doctrine for Enlargement, set up in the treaties,  “before the latest news” (referring to the democratic calls for independence in Catalonia and Scotland) that would apply to any new state.

(2) the fact that internal enlargement is something more than a regular enlargement and that the European Commission would a request from a member state to develop a conclusive legal analysis of the institutional impact at EU level of such an event.

(3) and finally he also underlines that the commission remains neutral towards aspirations of the “peoples who are now discussing this through their democratic instruments”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udcZJ_AtPl4&feature=youtu.be&t=11m29s

You can watch his answer and full debate in youtube