A seminar on the future of the EU enlargement policy was held in Brussels on 21 March. The event was organised by the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (SIEPS). Venue: Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU, Square de Meeûs 30, Brussels.

Often presented as the "most successful EU foreign policy", enlargement has been one of the most significant undertakings of the European Union over the last two decades. The recent admission of numerous states to the Union has however exposed shortcomings in the way in which that policy is carried out.

In the context of growing scepticism about further EU expansion, the response to those shortcomings has, on the whole, taken the form of a strengthening of Member States’ influence and control, a phenomenon that a recent SIEPS report (distributed at the seminar) characterises as “the creeping nationalisation of the EU enlargement policy”. 

At the seminar, a panel of eminent experts examined this development and its possible impact on the policy’s effectiveness. The panellists also discussed more broadly the challenges of the current enlargement process, and its future perspectives. Participants included:
 
Mathilde Grammont

Adviser on enlargement issues, Permanent Representation of France to the EU

Michael Leigh

Director General for Enlargement, DG Enlargement, European Commission

Alan Mayhew

Jean Monnet Professor, University of Sussex, Founder of  the Wider Europe Network, Special Adviser to the European Commission, and Adviser to the Polish and Ukrainian Governments 

Jacek Saryusz-Wolski

Member of European Parliament, former chair of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee, vice-Chair Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly

Christophe Hillion

Senior researcher, SIEPS; Professor of European Law, University of Leiden and guest Professor of European Integration Law, University of Stockholm

Monday 21 March, 14.00-17.00 (coffee from 13.45)

Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU, Square de Meeûs 30, Brussels

Report: The Creeping Nationalisation of EU Enlargement