How to restore trust in the EU enlargement in the light of the contemporary challenges
From being a key transformative tool in Central and East European countries, praised for its effectiveness and long- term positive effects, the enlargement policy has become a second-order issue attracting much less interest from both the EU and its member states that some 10, 15 years ago. Although enlargement has not stopped altogether, it has considerably slowed down under highly unfavourable circumstances for further EU expansion. At the same time, a growing number of voices within the EU argue for a more gradual and cautious approach to enlargement or even for postponing the accession of candidate countries until all new member states have been fully “absorbed”. Fifteen years after being recognised as potential candidates for membership of the EU, some Western Balkan countries have not even applied for membership, while those more advanced have experienced major obstacles in the process. Will the recent Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU membership application and the opening of the two EU negotiation chapters with Serbia give a new impetus to the enlargement process? Where does this leave one of the EU's historically most successful policies – the enlargement policy - and how can credibility in this policy be restored?
Moderator
Christian Kvorning Lassen, Research fellow, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy
Speakers
Štefan Füle, Czech diplomat, former Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy (February 2010 - October 2014)
Marko Stojic, FSS Masaryk University, Brno
Traian Urban, Metropolitan University, Prague
Program
14.00 – 14.30 Welcome coffee
14.30 – 14.45 Welcome and presentation of speakers
14.45 – 16.00 Evolution of the European enlargement project and current political and economic context
16.00 – 17.00 Open debate and questions
The debate takes place on Monday, March 21, from 14.00 to 17.00 at the European house (Jungmanova 24, Prague 1).
Please register here, or contact us via europeum@europeum.org.
Official invitation can be accessed through PDF button on the right.
