While EU leaders insist that enlargement is a priority, lack of progress on the rule of law is undermining the process.Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, enlargement once again became a priority for the European Union, after a long hiatus. But since the EU resuscitated the enlargement process in the summer of 2022, most of the ten candidate and potential candidate countries have made little headway on implementing the domestic reforms necessary to join the EU. The Commission’s enlargement reports, published in late October, paint a discouraging picture, especially when it comes to the rule of law and democracy.
Author: Zselyke Csaky, Senior Research fellow, Centre For European Reform.
This article is available on the CER website.
