Maynooth University Faculty of Social Sciences

The Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies will host a workshop on the theme of EU Enlargement on 6 and 7 October 2023. The event is part of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence project 2020-2023. The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Antoaneta Dimitrova of Leiden University, one of the world's foremost experts on the enlargement process.
 
OVERVIEW OF THE WORKSHOP
After many years of stagnation, the EU enlargement process has experienced a significant revival in 2023. As a result, the October European Council summit meeting in Grenada, Spain, is expected to produce consequential decisions on the EU’s relationship with the Western Balkan countries, Moldova and Ukraine. European Council President, Charles Michel, recently called for the EU to be ready for new accessions by 2030. German Chancellor Olof Scholz has called for major EU institutional reform in preparation for further enlargement. Enlargement featured centrally in the recent State of the Union speech by Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission will soon deliver its 2023 reports on the progress made by candidate and aspirant states. The next meeting of the European Political Community will take place on 5 October 2023.  
 
This workshop will examine the future of EU enlargement from the perspective of southeastern Europe. It will evaluate the progress made by candidate states to date and how likely the renewed drive for enlargement will produce significant reform and convergence with EU standards. It will also examine lessons from recent enlargements and, in particular, the experience of Bulgaria and Romania, in joining the EU and implementing EU rules after accession. It will bring together experts from across the region to consider issues such as rule of law, transposition and implementation of EU rules, regional cooperation, elite-society relations, civil society’s role in the accession process and the impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine. It will also ask questions about the EU’s ‘absorption capacity’, and the institutional and decision-making changes necessary to allow an EU of up to 35 states to function efficiently in the future. 

Photos from the event 

Programme