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European Union’s Eastern enlargement(s)

Lessons, challenges, prospects

The workshop will gather different disciplinary, methodological, and empirical insights to reflect on key issues in the study of the EU’s Eastern enlargement. Authors will have the possibility to publish their findings in the Schuman Centre’s Working Paper series, and a selection of workshop papers will be put forward as a part of a journal Special Issue.

Reflecting on the EU’s Eastern enlargement at its twentieth anniversary is an opportunity to take stock of the workings of the enlarged Union, as well as on the prospects for and challenges of any future ‘widening’. This opportunity could not be timelier in the context of a disrupted European and global security architecture, systemic fractures of democracy and the rule of law across the continent, and the need to address these interrelated issues in a new geopolitical context. Praised as a success in the context of the 2004/07/13 accessions, the EU’s enlargement policy has largely been ineffective in the Western Balkans. In a context of high expectations for the policy to deliver on Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, questions that are raised concern not only the pre- and post-accession experiences of the current members, but also the effects of the Eastern Enlargement on the enlargement policy, and the shape and the workings of the future Union. We encourage theoretically innovative and empirically solid contributions that foster interdisciplinary collaboration and fresh perspectives on current debates on and prospects for further Eastern enlargement.

Themes

- (Geo)Politics of ‘Eastern’ enlargement: insights from the past, reflections on the future

- Future enlargement(s): prospects, models, challenges

- Legal, social, political, and economic convergence before and after enlargement: implications for EU enlargement policy

Co-Convenors

Page last updated on 05/12/2023