Report | Making enlargement work again: Supporting Western Balkans through the experiences of Central and Eastern Europe

On September 12th, EUROPEUM’s Brussels Office organized a public conference titled “Making enlargement work again: Supporting Western Balkans through the experiences of Central and Eastern Europe”. Following a keynote speech by H.E. Bálint Ódor, the panel discussions dwelled on the 2004 enlargement, its impacts on the EU and the lessons learned from the process through the perspective of current EU accession of the countries of Western Balkans.

Despite initial skepticism of the Western Balkan countries to the fast progress of Ukraine and Moldova, the Union has this year delivered also on some aspects of the region’s long-stalled EU integration. Bosnia and Herzegovina received a positive decision on its accession negotiations by the European Council, the European Commission introduced the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and Montenegro progressed to the closing stages of its accession process. The key goal of the EU’s approach to the region has been to restore trust in their membership perspective and to showcase that progress will be allowed when the candidates invest effort into the required reforms. 

Institut EUROPEUM