Issue 4/2024: Is Europe still United?

Twenty years ago, the European Union experienced its largest enlargement ever, the so-called Big Bang, with the addition of 10 new member states. This enlargement included many of the countries in our region – Poland, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This momentous occasion marked the culmination of hard work by the EU and the post-socialist countries, which aptly referred to it as the final “return to Europe”. With a newly united Europe (and more members on the way), it seems as that Euro-optimism had reached its pinnacle moment.