On December 9 our colleague Leonid Litra, Senior Research Fellow, moderated the panel discussion “Navigating EU Enlargement Amidst Emerging Challenges” at conference Forum “Larger, Safer Europe: How to Get EU Enlargement Right”. The event was held in Paris and organized by ECFR and French Development Agency.

The session explored the delicate balance between the urgency to expand and the meticulous EU accession process. Beyond security, the discussion was focused on convergence and related processes, examining how acceleration of the EU accession can align with the stringent EU framework.

Key questions addressed included:

• How to unlock bottlenecks in EU budget allocations?
• How to balance funds on security, economic convergence, green agenda?
• How can the opportunities emerging from today’s security landscape strengthen the accession process without compromising its integrity
• How the enlargement methodology can be tailored to avoid blockages, deliver and maintain high-quality outcomes?

Speakers were:
– Björn Linderfalk, Head of Section for South East Europe and EU Enlargement, Europe and North America Department, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden;
– Predrag Zenovic, Chief Negotiator for Montenegro’s EU accession;
– Dumitru Alaiba, Former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Development
and Digitalization of Moldova;
– Adrian Kamenica, Director General, Department of Policy and EU Integration, Prime Minister’s Office of Albania.

Thank you to ECFR and the French Development Agency for organising the event and for the opportunity to take part in the discussion!