For the first time in over a decade, EU enlargement has moved from the margins of the Brussels agenda to its very center. The war in Ukraine has transformed enlargement from a slow, predominantly technical process into an urgent geopolitical imperative, with Ukraine, Moldova, and the Western Balkans all advancing—at varying paces—toward membership. However, this renewed momentum runs up against an uncomfortable truth: an EU designed for six founding members, and subsequently expanded to twenty-seven, was never structured to accommodate a Union of thirty or more states without a profound overhaul of its governance system.
This panel examines whether the EU’s institutions, decision-making mechanisms, and budget can realistically sustain the current wave of candidate countries without paralyzing the Union itself. Key tensions will be addressed: the conflict between unanimity and qualified majority voting regarding foreign policy and taxation; the redistribution of cohesion funds and agricultural subsidies toward larger, less affluent member states; and political resistance from certain capitals regarding an accelerated or geopolitically driven accession process. The discussion will also analyze what enlargement means for the EU’s very identity: does it remain fundamentally an economic and regulatory union, or is it becoming—through this new wave of accessions—a security and defense union as well?
The debate will offer the audience a concrete assessment of the extent to which political will, institutional reforms, and European public opinion are prepared to go further in transforming enlargement from a mere promise into a functioning reality.
