Brussels will recommend negotiating with Ukraine on joining the EU with several reservations.

According to Politico, these “technical” reservations are applied to issues where countries need to make more progress, starting with building a strong and independent judicial system, protecting the rights of minorities, and ending with implementing anti-corruption measures.

“These will not be minor, but major warnings. This is not the first time that Brussels masks serious political consequences behind technical details,” a French official warned.

Western EU countries, including Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal, are increasing pressure to move slowly with efforts to expanding the bloc. They fear that without further steps towards reform, but with momentum for enlargement, the EU could slide into a dynamic where the bloc swells to 30 or more members without an agreed-upon plan to operate effectively. Work is currently underway to formulate joint proposals for reforms.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will host colleagues from the EU and countries that intend to join the bloc on November 2 to work on such proposals.