Since its creation in 1957 around an initial six countries, the European Community (the present European Union) has regularly expanded to encompass new states, rising to a total of 28 in 2013 when the last country joined (Croatia). Though the figure fell back to 27 with the UK’s departure in 2020, the Union still has 10 candidacies under consideration, each pending for different lengths of time—the oldest, that of Turkey, dating back to 1987. However, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the geopolitical context has drastically changed within just a few short years, raising new questions about the appropriateness of further EU expansion.
Jean-François Drevet updates us here on the 10 pending candidacies (Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Ukraine, Moldavia, Georgia and Turkey). In so doing, he points out the sensitive issues that the new borders would raise for the EU (particularly with Russia) and the specific circumstances of each candidate. He also stresses their divergences over EU foreign policy, warning of the risk that adherence to the standards of freedom and democracy required for accession may fall by the wayside, with new members potentially disrupting the Union’s institutional functioning (much as Hungary does today). Against this backdrop, can EU expansion still be pursued under the current rules? Should these not be amended at the very least, or alternative forms of regional cooperation considered instead?
The article is downloadable only in French. It is not available in English.
