Top European Commission officials said on October 4 that admitting new member states to the European Union by 2030 is now a \u201crealistic goal\u201d, as Brussels presented its annual enlargement report and urged aspiring countries to seize the momentum for joining the bloc.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe window for enlargement is wide open and we have to seize the opportunity now,\u201d said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. \u201cNew countries joining the EU by 2030 is a realistic goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2025 Enlargement Package, adopted by the European Commission, details progress made by candidate and potential candidate countries over the past year. It signals a growing political will within the EU to accelerate integration of key partners in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe, while maintaining the bloc\u2019s long-standing insistence on a merit-based process.<\/p>\n
Enlargement back on the agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n The enlargement process has been revitalised since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with countries such as Ukraine and Moldova gaining candidate status, and renewed momentum for the accession process in the Western Balkans.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe momentum for enlargement stands high on the EU\u2019s priority agenda,\u201d Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. \u201cA larger Union means a stronger and more influential Europe on the global stage. But enlargement is a merit-based process. Our partners must continue with reforms in democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Von der Leyen said the Commission\u2019s new assessments provide detailed recommendations and roadmaps for each country. The process, she added, was designed to ensure both the readiness of future member states and the EU\u2019s own institutional preparedness for another wave of expansion.<\/p>\n Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said 2025 had been \u201ca year of significant progress,\u201d highlighting Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova as the countries advancing most rapidly toward accession.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the current pace and quality of reforms, we may be able to conclude accession negotiations in the coming years,\u201d Kos said.<\/p>\n Reform efforts praised\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The Commission\u2019s report praised Montenegro and Albania for sustained reform efforts. Montenegro has closed four negotiation chapters this year and aims to wrap up talks by the end of 2026 if reform momentum continues. Albania has opened four clusters and plans to conclude negotiations by 2027, supported by continued progress in justice reform and the fight against corruption.<\/p>\n Despite the ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine has pushed ahead with its EU integration drive. The Commission said Kyiv had met conditions to open several negotiating clusters and could be ready to open all by the end of the year. However, it warned that an \u201cacceleration of reforms\u201d \u2014 especially on rule of law \u2014 would be needed to meet Ukraine\u2019s ambitious target of closing negotiations by 2028.<\/p>\n Moldova, facing similar security pressures and hybrid threats, has also completed the screening process and opened key clusters. The Commission said Chisinau\u2019s goal of concluding negotiations by early 2028 was \u201cambitious but achievable,\u201d provided the government sustains reform momentum following recent elections.<\/p>\n By contrast, enlargement progress in the Western Balkans remains uneven. Serbia\u2019s accession process has slowed amid deepening political polarisation, protests and concerns about media freedom. North Macedonia, meanwhile, must adopt long-delayed constitutional changes to advance negotiations, while Bosnia & Herzegovina continues to struggle with political deadlock and slow reform delivery.<\/p>\n Kosovo, still awaiting full recognition from some EU states, has maintained its commitment to integration but saw delays in reform implementation due to domestic political disruptions. The Commission said it was ready to prepare an opinion on Kosovo\u2019s membership application if requested by EU governments.<\/p>\n Turkey and Georgia face setbacks<\/strong><\/p>\n Turkey remains a formal candidate country and a strategic partner, but accession talks have been frozen since 2018. The Commission said that while cooperation continues on key regional and migration issues, Ankara has shown no progress on democratic standards or judicial independence.<\/p>\n Georgia, once seen as a frontrunner among Eastern Partnership states, has seen its EU prospects collapse amid what the Commission described as \u201cserious democratic backsliding\u201d. Brussels said the government\u2019s restrictive laws on civil society and media, and the erosion of judicial independence, have effectively halted its accession process.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGeorgia is a candidate country in name only,\u201d the report stated bluntly.<\/p>\n The Commission said it would soon present a new communication on in-depth policy reviews and EU reforms to prepare both current and future members for enlargement. It also proposed stronger safeguards in future Accession Treaties to prevent backsliding on rule-of-law commitments after joining the bloc \u2014 a lesson drawn from recent challenges within the EU itself.<\/p>\n Brussels emphasised that enlargement is not just a political ambition but a process of gradual integration. Countries such as Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans are already benefiting from new EU initiatives \u2014 including the \u20ac6bn Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, the \u20ac1.9bn Moldova Growth Plan and the \u20ac50bn Ukraine Facility \u2014 that bring them closer to the single market.<\/p>\n \u201cEach enlargement has made our Union stronger,\u201d the Commission said, citing economic data showing that the 2004 enlargement doubled living standards in new member states and expanded the EU economy by more than a quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top European Commission officials said on October 4 that admitting new member states to the European Union by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,34766,176247,299,5187],"class_list":{"0":"post-549489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-eu-accession","10":"tag-eu-enlargement-reports","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115494070849739318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}