As the UK once again contemplates its future in Europe, the European Union is looking to inject momentum into its enlargement process. Croatia was the last to join in 2013; with Brexit, the bloc has only shrunk. Now, many in the EU hope the next few years will mark the next phase of enlargement. Documents published this week, on ‘pre-enlargement policy reviews’, are designed to move this conversation on and show that the EU is thinking strategically about what this actually means – namely how to accept new members while maintaining broad consensus.

At the start of the year, it looked like external events were pushing European nations closer together. Trump’s posturing over Greenland saw the Icelandic referendum on accession talks brought forward, the new Norwegian opposition leader came out in favour of re-opening the European question in Oslo and, as Russia’s war in Ukraine overtook the first world war in length, Ukraine and Moldova continued to push for an accelerated route to accession.

Attention is focused on the candidate countries in southeast Europe

Attention is focused on the candidate countries in southeast Europe

At the start of September, the European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos declared that the EU was approaching an ‘autumn of enlargement’. While the pre-enlargement papers have been worked on for over a year, her remarks came one week after the pro-accession side lost the Icelandic referendum. They should also be seen in the context of criticism over the slowing down of accession by the two frontrunners, Montenegro and Albania, who are close to membership but continue to face challenges. 

Iceland was important because, not only........

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