During 28-29 of November, The New Europe Center organized the 1st Accession Exchange Forum with the participation of high government officials and leading experts in Kyiv.

The two-day offline event was devoted to exchanging thoughts on the accession process, discussing good practices, new ideas, and lessons learned, and exploring the opportunities in the relations between European Union, countries of Eastern Europe and Western Balkans.

Namely, the discussion panels were devoted to the following issues:

• EU candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova and potential candidate for Georgia: the road to membership
• Western Balkans and Eastern Europe in one basket: reforms, perspectives, and synergies for speeding up the accession process
• Parliaments’ role in the accession process: political consensus on accession reforms as a driver of success
• Russian war against Ukraine: implications for the EU accession process
• Staged accession and reform of the enlargement methodology: how to accelerate EU membership?

The Forum participants include:

• High government officials from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, responsible for coordinating the promotion of EU membership in these countries.
• Leading experts and civil society activists with expertise in European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the countries of Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.
• Members of European and national parliaments, European Commission officials, EU Delegation in Kyiv, relevant EU technical assistance projects, donor organizations, think tanks and academic institution

Video recording of the Forum is available here: 1st day and 2nd day.

Key messages of the speakers:в

Session 1. “The EU candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the potential candidate for Georgia: the path to membership”.

Conversation with Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna.

Session 2.“Western Balkans and Eastern Europe in one basket: reforms, perspectives, and synergies for speeding up the accession process”. 

Session 3. “Parliaments’ role in the accession process: political consensus on accession reforms as a driver of success”.

Session 4. “Russian war against Ukraine: implications for the EU accession process”.

Session 5. “Staged accession and reform of the enlargement methodology: how to accelerate EU membership”.

The Accession Exchange Forum is organized by the New Europe Center in partnership with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, the International Renaissance Foundation, the Institute for European Policies and Reforms and the Soros Foundation in Georgia. The Accession Exchange Forum is taking place with EU support, within the EU-funded EU4USociety project implemented by the International Renaissance Foundation.