Euractiv | EU enlargement to the East: support grows but conditions remain key
The Central European countries - Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - are unequivocally in favour of the enlargement of the European Union towards the East and the Western Balkans. At the same time, however, they stress that the path to membership must be conditional on fulfilling all the established criteria. Ukraine recognises that its integration into the EU will be a long haul, but every step forward means further distance from Russia's influence. Jana Faktor Juzová, a research fellow at the EUROPEUM Institute, commented for Euractiv.
24. February 2025

Beyond the support for the enlargement process by other countries with similar priorities, the Czech Republic has been proactive in recent years within the EU Council through the so-called non-papers focused on the possibilities of gradual integration of countries applying for EU membership. At the European level, the Czech Republic could be more active in the future in ‘persuading’ EU countries that are not typically in favour of further enlargement.
Read the full interview here.