Advancing EU Enlargement beyond 2024: Opportunities and Challenges ahead
Advancing EU Enlargement beyond 2024: Opportunities and Challenges ahead

Author(s): Author Not Specified, Giovanni Notaristefano
Subject(s): Political Sciences, Governance, International relations/trade, Politics and law, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development, Geopolitics
Published by: EUROPEUM - Institut pro evropskou politiku
Keywords: EU enlargement; democratic reforms; geostrategic interests; Western Balkans; Ukraine; Moldova; conditionality; integration; rule of law; accession negotiations.
Summary/Abstract: The year 2024 marked an important moment in the European Union's enlargement process, as it oversaw significant progress, particularly in the case of Ukraine, Moldova and Montenegro, but also persistent challenges in the case of certain countries. The first intergovernmental conference with Ukraine and Moldova was held in June, formally launching the accession negotiations with the two countries, which started with the bilateral screening process. Following the European Commission’s recommendation, in March the EU leaders agreed in principle to open EU accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, once it would fulfil all conditions specified by the Commission. Montenegro achieved an important milestone on its EU accession path by closing interim benchmarks in key chapters 23 and 24, encompassing the ‘fundamentals’ of the accession process, after receiving a positive assessment in the Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR) in June. The accession negotiations with Albania formally started in October by opening the first cluster on the fundamentals, a step previously blocked by Greece due to the arrest of the ethnic Greek mayor of the Albanian municipality of Himarë.

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