nam 22 uu 4500 10.59704/e8e8837cbafbd158 DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 261009s2026||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.59704/e8e8837cbafbd158 doi eng 342 23 Spieker, Luke Dimitrios Author aut Preparing for a Wider (But More Unequal) Union - Are “Institutional Safeguard Clauses” in Accession Treaties Constitutional? Spieker, Luke Dimitrios Verfassungsblog 2026-10-09 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier On 6 October 2026, the Commission presented its Communication “Preparing for a wider Union”. At the centre are so-called institutional safeguard clauses. These resemble an Article 7 TEU procedure for the late arrivals – but at a discount, featuring a much broader scope and much lower thresholds. I argue that this is not the way. While it is doubtful whether the proposed clauses still qualify as an “adjustment” of the current Treaties, they strike at core principles of the Union’s constitutional framework: the equality of Member States and, behind them, the equality of Union citizens. CC BY-SA 4.0 Article 7 TEU Commission EU EU Enlargement accession treaties institutional safeguard clauses new member states (DE-588)10290611-7 gnd EU Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/preparing-for-a-wider-but-more-unequal-union/ raw object