Articles by Antoaneta L. Dimitrova

May 9, 2025

🧭 The EU must confront the challenges of enlargement to Ukraine

Antoaneta L. Dimitrova

EU enlargement to Ukraine is a strategic necessity, but cannot rest on geopolitics alone. To avoid backlash, the EU must confront policy dilemmas openly, from rule of law to agriculture, and offer realistic compromises. Antoaneta Dimitrova argues that public support depends on political leaders’ ability to offer a credible narrative to counter negative publicity

Antoaneta L. Dimitrova

Professor of Comparative Governance, Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University

Antoaneta is Head of Leiden's Diplomacy and Global Affairs Research Group.

She works on European Union enlargement, in particular dilemmas of enlargement, decision-making, EU reforms and the candidacy of Ukraine, with a focus on the role of citizens.

What do citizens want? And why does it matter? Discourses among citizens as opportunities and constraints for EU enlargement
Journal of European Public Policy
with Elitsa Kortenska, 2017

How the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and its Consequences Necessitated Adaptation and Drove Innovation in the EU
Journal of Common Market Studies
with Rilka Dragneva, 2023

@antoanetadl.bsky.social

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