The European Union towards enlargement

Paper by Federico Fabbrini - Centro Studi sul Federalismo

On 8 November, the European Commission published its communication on the EU enlargement, recommending that the Council start accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

However, the text of the Communication has a number of criticisms: although the Commission highlights that none of the four countries fulfils the basic conditions for being considered a candidate country, it recommends that accession negotiations should also start; making it clear that this choice is purely political rather than based on merit assessments.