The debate about the future of the European Union (EU) enlargement remains heated, with some voices calling for greater flexibility in response to changing circumstances while others insist on the virtues of a strictly ‘merit-based approach’ to EU enlargement. The question Veronica Anghel and I have been wrestling with is how the changing nature of the European Union interacts with ‘EU enlargement’ as a political process and a policy instrument. We started asking this question before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine restarted the debate on enlargement in earnest. This collection spotlights the evolution of enlargement in our theory of European integration. It also shows the role of enlargement in European efforts to elevate the role of the EU to that of a geopolitical actor and to achieve ‘strategic autonomy.’

Continue reading →