Icelanders have voted against reopening accession talks with the European Union. Veronica Anghel and Erik Jones claim that the result prevents Iceland from seeking a formal decision-making role for now, but changes nothing about how deeply Iceland already participates in the European project
EU institutions, policymakers and many expert debates often frame enlargement as a test for candidate countries. Adam Kola argues that it is equally a test for the European Union. The accession of Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans will also reshape the EU by forcing it to reform and redefine itself
The European Union is missing a strategic opportunity to expand its Northern borders, says Tomas Caprara. Before the August referendum in Iceland, Brussels should show openness towards exceptions on fisheries, the thorniest issue for the Union’s Northern neighbours
Recent contributions to this series have shown how enlargement has returned to the centre of European geopolitics. Vera Tika argues that the emerging model of gradual accession is transforming the meaning of EU membership from a binary status separating insiders from outsiders into a continuum of differentiated participation
Ursula von der Leyen’s move to group Türkiye with Russia and China jeopardises the EU’s new security architecture. Murat Aktaş warns that treating an official EU candidate and ally as an 'excluded partner' is a strategic miscalculation. This deepening crack between rhetoric and reality creates an ontological crisis, threatening the credibility of the enlargement policy
The crushing defeat of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz in Hungary’s 2026 elections gives the EU a rare opportunity to reform its enlargement policy. Iveri Kekenadze Gustafsson argues that this moment can accelerate candidates’ path to membership and prevent single states from derailing the process for domestic or bilateral political gain
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made EU enlargement a strategic necessity without altering its merit-based rules. The tension between urgency and strict conditionality endures. Matis Poussardin argues that EU agencies can bridge this gap by enabling gradual, sector-specific participation in EU governance without lowering accession standards
Comparing Central and Eastern Europe with the Western Balkans, Visnja Vukov argues that the EU’s governance of economic integration is a decisive lever of transformation. When the EU prioritises and credibly enforces these requirements, it constrains rent-seeking and weakens state capture. When the EU defers them, however, governments can entrench clientelist political–economic coalitions
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