Will the EU Rethink Enlargement?

Summary:

One effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February was to prompt Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova to apply for EU membership, pushing enlargement to the top of the EU agenda. At their Versailles summit in March, EU leaders affirmed that Ukraine “belongs to our European family”, tasking the European Commission with assessing the Georgian, Moldovan and Ukrainian applications. The three countries have completed ’application questionnaires’, and EU leaders must decide how to respond. The EU’s relations with its neighbours have long been held back by the dysfunctional accession process and by the lack of appealing alternatives to membership. The war in Ukraine should finally spur the EU to reform the way it enlarges and embrace new models of integration. The Union and its neighbours would be stronger for it.

• Alternative Source 1

ESO Records

ECFR Policy Briefs: Number 453, June 2022: Partnership for Enlargement: A new way to integrate Ukraine and the EU’s eastern neighbourhood https://www.europeansources.info/record/partnership-for-enlargement-a-new-way-to-integrate-ukraine-and-the-eus-eastern-neighbourhood/

DGAP Online Commentaries: 03/05/2022: Time to recognise Ukraine as European and shake up the EU enlargement process https://www.europeansources.info/record/time-to-recognise-ukraine-as-european-and-shake-up-the-eu-enlargement-process/

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