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EU Enlargement Dilemmas

November 20, 2025

🧭 The negative consequences of rule transfer in EU enlargement

László Bruszt László Bruszt and Julia Langbein argue that EU market rules, when applied to weaker economies, can trigger damaging side effects. Unless anticipated and managed, these risks threaten not just candidate countries but the European Union itself. Lessons from the 2004 enlargement are vital as Ukraine moves closer to membership Read more
November 14, 2025

🧭 The geopolitical turn in enlargement discourse

Tom Hunter Tom Hunter, Natasha Wunsch and Marie-Eve Bélanger argue that Russia’s war has exposed the double-edged nature of European discourse. The EU has long sustained itself through words; now language has become strategy, shaping what is politically possible. For the EU to endure, this rhetorical power must become institutional commitment Read more
October 15, 2025

🧭 Framing wartime enlargement: still a process, after all 

Nicole Scicluna Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has transformed how often EU leaders talk about enlargement, but not how they frame it. Nicole Scicluna shows that despite geopolitical urgency and family rhetoric, enlargement remains overwhelmingly cast as a conditional, merit-based process Read more
September 26, 2025

🧭 Why securing welfare benefits is key to EU enlargement

Ann-Kathrin Reinl Ann-Kathrin Reinl argues that welfare security is the quiet hinge of public support for EU enlargement. Credible guarantees on national benefits blunt fears about costs and migration. If we reassure citizens on welfare, support for a larger EU holds Read more
August 29, 2025

🧭 When Europe means unity, not pluralism: rethinking conditionality in Ukraine

Lesley-Ann Daniels Lesley-Ann Daniels and Marc Sanjaume-Calvet explore a paradox at the heart of Ukraine’s path to EU membership: the strongest pro-European voices are often the least supportive of minority rights. Drawing on new survey data, they call for a more adaptive and politically sensitive enlargement strategy Read more
August 27, 2025

🧭 How Hungary and Serbia expose the EU’s enlargement vulnerabilities

Rafaela Gonzalez Lucioni EU enlargement, without credible enforcement of democratic standards, threatens the Union’s integrity. Cases like Hungary and Serbia expose the dangers of performative reforms and weak accountability. Rafaela Gonzalez Lucioni argues that to remain a values-based project, the EU must reform internal mechanisms and adopt a phased, conditional approach to accession Read more
August 12, 2025

🧭 Powerhouse or talking shop? The European Parliament and EU enlargement

Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén Talking shop or powerhouse? The role of the European Parliament in foreign affairs is the subject of much debate. Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén explains how the Parliament has contributed to the current momentum around enlargement – an area where parliamentary influence is often overlooked – and how the European Commission is increasingly recognising, and valuing, the parliamentary dimension Read more
August 6, 2025

🧭 Military support to Ukraine is more fundamental than enlargement

Bjarn Eck EU enlargement alone won’t bring peace or security to Ukraine. Without matching accession promises with sustained military aid, writes Bjarn Eck, Europe risks prolonging the war — and exposing itself to greater danger Read more

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