The European Commission’s 2018 Communication on the EU’s enlargement policy with the accompanying Country Reports, to be presented on 17 April, comes at a time when public opinion in several EU member states remains ambivalent about continued enlargement. A number of member states have publicly called for a suspension of the accession negotiations with Turkey, due to the increasingly authoritarian rule in the country.
Meanwhile, after a period of relative neglect towards the Western Balkan countries despite deteriorating democratic standards in a number of those countries, the EU has signalled its re-engagement with the region with several events planned for this year. The European Commission’s Communication of 6 February set out an ambitious programme for a “credible enlargement perspective” for the six Western Balkan countries.
The European Commission’s April Communication will thus be an opportunity to determine how it proposes to reinforce the credibility of the EU’s enlargement policy towards the Western Balkan region , and how it intends to deal with the case of Turkey.
Registration and coffee from 12h45 – meeting from 13h15 to 14h30