EU plans 15-year probation period for new member states: Brexit reversal under threat?

The European Union (EU) is considering a 15-year probation period for any new member states as the block seeks expansion without creating any internal political crisis.

The proposed interim period for new joinees would allow the 27-member bloc to suspend the new member's voting rights and cut access to funding if the concerned member country later moves away from the EU's democratic standards.

It is mainly designed for countries such as Ukraine, Moldova, Albania and Montenegro; however, the timing also raises an awkward question for Britain.

If the UK ever decided to reverse Brexit and apply to rejoin the EU, would it return as the powerful former member it once was or as a new applicant subject to tougher rules?

For now, that question is hypothetical.

Britain has not applied to rejoin the bloc, although Prime Minister Andy Burnham has recently reopened the debate over whether the UK should eventually consider options ranging from closer economic ties to full EU membership.

What is already clear is that Brussels does not appear interested in recreating the special arrangement Britain enjoyed before Brexit.

Former EU officials have warned that any future UK return would likely come without the old opt-outs and rebates that once made British membership unusually flexible.

The new probation proposal would make that landscape even more complicated.

Under the plan being discussed by the European Commission, a country joining the bloc could face enhanced monitoring for up to 15 years.

If it seriously breached EU democratic standards, Brussels would have an easier route to suspend voting rights or withhold money.

The idea is partly a response to the EU's experience with Hungary under former prime minister Viktor Orbán, whose government repeatedly clashed with Brussels and blocked major EU decisions.

The Commission is also considering limiting the veto powers of some new members for a period after accession, another move designed to stop a single government from paralysing decisions supported by the rest of the bloc.

None of these proposals has been approved yet.

All 27 current EU members would have to agree to any major changes to the enlargement process and negotiations are expected to be difficult.