France wants to change the rules for countries to join the EU club.

In a two-and-a-half page “non-paper” shared with other EU countries, along with an annex listing new stages, Paris calls for replacing the current accession process, which divides the EU acquis — the body of rights and obligations that includes the EU treaties, as well other rules and laws — into 35 chapters.

EU countries must agree unanimously to formally begin negotiations for accession. An aspiring member country then works with the European Commission to adjust its national laws to match the acquis, and once it has done so, an accession treaty is drawn up, and must be approved by the Council of the EU and ratified in each of the existing member countries.

Under the French proposal, there would be a new, seven-stage process, with “stringent conditions in order to effectively converge towards European norms and standards,” plus a “reversibility” component, allowing the EU to abandon membership talks if a candidate country’s government backslides away from the bloc’s standards.

“Once negotiations are opened, the integration process would no longer be based on simultaneous opening of a large number of thematic chapters, but on several successive stages, which would form coherent policy blocks,” the paper states, adding: “The closing of negotiations corresponding to each stage completed by the country would open up the possibility to participate in EU programmes, to be involved in certain sectoral policies and, where appropriate, to benefit from certain targeted finance.”

The proposal comes after France found itself at the center of a contentious, unwanted debate at the most recent European Council leaders’ summit, during which President Emmanuel Macron prevailed in his push to block a proposal to open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania.

France was not alone in opposing the start of such negotiations, but it was most forceful in the face of a large majority that supported going forward, especially in opening talks with North Macedonia. Part of the French argument was its insistence that the current membership process is flawed and is in need of an overhaul.

Some French officials have conceded that making that point without first coming forward with ideas for a new system was potentially a tactical mistake, opening up Macron to criticism.

But even with the new non-paper, there was some quick and forceful pushback in Brussels, where some EU diplomats and officials said it was little more than an attempt by Paris to justify its prior position, and that Macron’s advisers seemed not to fully understand just how much support candidate countries already receive.

One diplomat’s interpretation was that France simply wants to block any further expansion of the EU.

“There will be the usual pompous framing by Paris,” the diplomat said. “All this can’t mask the fact that the French proposals are not really about reforming the accession process but about putting an end to EU enlargement. They are a poisoned chalice for countries like North Macedonia that have done much to fulfill strict EU conditions in order to start accession talks. If France joined the EU consensus on this, we could actually see more reforms and more progress on the ground than by engaging in lengthy discussions about methodology.”

One French diplomatic official fired back, calling that reaction “a stupid comment” and urged other countries to refrain from such accusations.

“Let’s be serious and try to be constructive because otherwise, we can accuse each other of various things,” the diplomatic official said. “It’s not only France, it’s not a way to kill anything. It’s a way to re-engage and the Commission should have done it. Fine we are doing it and we hope we can open the debate now. So nobody’s forced to accept the paper or to say that it’s perfect. It’s to open the debate and trigger a discussion on this.

“If we wanted to be against the enlargement process, it would be very simple, we could just veto,” the official added. “That’s not what we are doing.”

In the non-paper, France reaffirmed its support for the EU’s overall approach to Western Balkan countries, including North Macedonia and Albania, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia, which the paper said “belong to Europe, by virtue of their history, culture and geography.”

But the French paper says, “The profound political, economic and social transformations required for a future accession to the European Union continue to be too slow and the concrete benefits for citizens in candidate countries remain insufficient.”

France has voiced total confidence in its position, but the Elysée has also seemed sensitive to accusations that it unfairly crushed the spirits of North Macedonia and Albania.

Macron met with North Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum last week and sought to clarify the French position. Pendarovski tweeted afterward that his country did not oppose a new system for EU membership. “We don’t object to altered methodology for EU accession talks which makes for a more thorough accession process,” he wrote.

But in a sign that the EU faces continued competition for influence in the Balkans, Pendarovski also used the Paris event to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

An EU official said the paper “looks like it is written without full knowledge of what is already available to Western Balkans countries, and certainly with the agenda of slowing the process by front-loading difficult stuff, such as environment.”

But the official said France’s approach was not helpful. “Most importantly, coming with a French-only proposal is not the way to keep enlargement as a consensual matter,” the official said.

The French diplomatic official said Paris had conferred with other capitals, including Berlin, The Hague and Copenhagen.

Denmark largely supported the French position during the European Council debate and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will visit Paris on Monday for a working lunch with Macron, where the enlargement issue is certain to be discussed. EU ministers are also scheduled to revisit the issue at a General Affairs Council meeting on Tuesday.

The French official said the main goal of the paper was to jumpstart the discussion before Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s about having stages toward real integration and convergence, so that countries are starting to get involved politically, financially, in terms of policy and programs, step by step,” the official said.

POLITICO