enlargement

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How to improve the EU enlargement process? How to ensure that the democratising effect of the accession process is sustained beyond the eventual accession to the EU? And are EU institutional reforms a necessary condition for EU enlargement? Answers to these and other questions are offered by the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy's contribution to the National Convention on the EU's roundtable on Balkans, Turkey or Ukraine: the future of enlargement policy in the context of institutional settings.

On 10 and 11 April 2024, Prague will host a two-day conference entitled "20 Years of Reuniting Europe's East and West", organised by EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the Think Visegrad platform and the project (Re)uniting the East and West: Reflections on the 2004 EU enlargement (REWEU) supported by the International Visegrad Fund and the European Commission. The programme will also include the second edition of the EU Enlargement Forum.

Czech governments have always been strong supporters of EU enlargement, and the same is true of the current one. The cabinet of Petr Fiala of the ODS might even like to be seen as the one that has done the most of Czech governments for the accession of new members to the shared club so far.

Discussions on further changes to the enlargement methodology may reinforce the image of EU membership as a moving target with constantly changing rules, especially as the current methodology has still not been fully applied. Within the framework of the current methodology, the European Commission should develop a new strategy that would specify its approach to the gradual integration of (potential) candidates into the EU and the conditions governing this process. The 2018 Western Balkans Strategy set out initiatives, some of which are still valid today and can serve as the basis for a new enlargement strategy. Writes Jana Juzová, Senior Research Fellow.

European Commision has recommened the start of accession talks with more candidate countries and the topic of EU's enlargement is once more high on the priority list. In what time horizon will these countries be able to become full members? And will it be even possible to bring new states to the table before full-scale reforms that could change the EU we know today? The director of our Brussels office Žiga Faktor has commented on the issue in an interview with RTVS.

European Commission has recommended in its assessment report for the accession talks with Ukraine, Moldavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to begin. The prime ministers of the bloc's countries will have the final say on the matter at the summit in the middle of December, but uninamous agreement will be needed. Will it be possible to achieve? Our deputy director Viktor Daněk has commented on the issue and further EU's reforms in an interview with the ČT24.

Ukraine and Moldavia are one step closer to the EU. European Commisison has recommended for the acession talks to start. Our senior research fellow Jana Juzová has commented on the issue of the EU enlargement in an interview with ČT.

European Commission report with 10 state's progress assesment on their way to becoming a European Union members is crucial for these countries. Žiga Faktor, director of our Brussels's office, has commented on which countries will most probably be supported by this report in getting a candidate status in an interview with RTVS.

The European Commission will issue a report on the progress of rapprochement with EU candidate countries. Where do Ukraine or the Western Balkan countries stand? In the Bruselské chlebíčky podcast, the topic was discussed in great detail by Žiga Faktor, Director of the EUROPEUM Institute's Brussels office, and Jana Juzová, our Senior Research Fellow.

This article was written as background material for a panel discussion at the Think Tank Forum: EU Enlargement. The author of the article is senior researcher Jana Juzová. In the article, she discusses, for example, whether the war in Ukraine will speed up the accession negotiations of the Western Balkan countries to the EU.

We would like to invite you to watch the live broadcast of the conference "Think Tank Forum: Rethinking Enlargement in times of Geopolitical Earthquakes", which will take place on Thursday 13 October at 15:00.