European Commission adopts enlargement package

The European Commission on Tuesday adopted its annual Enlargement Package, which reaffirms that the momentum for enlargement stands high on the priority agenda of the European Union, while the accession of new member states is increasingly within reach.

"Our package provides specific recommendations to all our partners," commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the first-of-its-kind televised live Enlargement Summit. "And to all of them we say: EU accession is a unique offer. A promise of peace, prosperity and solidarity. With the right reforms and a strong political will, our partners can seize this opportunity."

Countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Turkiye and Ukraine continue their respective paths toward the European Union.

The European Commission said it remains fully committed to supporting future member states in the journey toward membership, and it could welcome new members as early as 2030.

Ding Chun, director of the Center for European Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said, "The EU and its institutions want to use this opportunity to draw public attention and give candidate countries — all at different stages of accession — a chance to be seen."

Through this renewed spotlight, the EU hopes to rekindle and strengthen both public and governmental interest in joining the Union, he said.

"At the same time, EU institutions also see this as a way to expand their own influence, namely to remind Europeans of the meaning of integration, to reinforce a sense of unity and to revive the EU's centripetal force within member states."

Interests of members

Ondrej Dostal, a member of the European Parliament, said, "Enlargement must serve not primarily the European Commission's agenda, but instead the interests of each member state."

Dostal listed "geopolitical confrontation" as a poor reason for EU enlargement, saying that if the candidates join the bloc, "the reason must be common peace and prosperity across the continent".

"Enlargement is too important to rush: we owe it to our citizens and to candidate countries to get it right. I do not oppose closer collaboration with the neighboring countries," he said.

"A better alternative to full-scale membership, at least for the time being, would be more intense market cooperation in the European Economic Area, or a cooperation modeled on the example of EFTA (European Free Trade Association)."

Regarding the EU's future enlargement, Ding said there are of course differing views among current members and such differences are natural.

However, it is good practice for them to voice the differences out, he said. "By livestreaming such a summit on European integration, the EU is aiming above all to amplify its effects to address the 'democratic deficit' and to boost public engagement and solidarity toward the European project."