North Macedonia’s path to the EU has now been stalled by a dispute with Bulgaria related to language and identity. Such issues have now become embedded in the integration process. The bloc must do everything it can to make sure that this problem does not hold up other discussions related to Skopje’s accession.

The Moldovan government has recently made an effort to move closer to the European Union. This has been particularly true following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the country heads towards pivotal elections in the autumn, people across the country are trying to work out what is best for the future.

Ukraine's accession to the European Union undoubtedly has a lot of positive aspects, including economic development, strengthening of democracy, access to common markets, and exchange in all spheres of social relations. In the future, Ukraine will open up new opportunities for the European Union. However, both the experience of previous waves of EU enlargement and the analysis of Ukraine's relations with the EU show that there are many challenges and potential problems on the way to full membership.

Over the past two decades, the project of European integration has been moderately “failing forward”. Many issues have accompanied this process and their sum calls for a reinvention of European democracy.

Two decades have passed since the European Union’s “Big Bang enlargement” into Central and Eastern Europe. This anniversary prompts a reflection on the EU's evolution and where the European project stands today. The analysis below is based on the three main processes that have shaped the EU since 2004: widening and deepening, the impact of crises, and the emergence of new political divides.

In 2003, the year before its “Big Bang” enlargement, the European Union made a declaration in Thessaloniki: “The future of the Balkans is within the European Union.” In the 20 years since, the EU has not made good on that promise of future membership, nor have leaders in the Western Balkans risen to the occasion.

The all-but-halted integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union has led experts and citizens alike to wonder why the transformative power of the EU, at its peak in 2004 when it admitted ten countries from Central Europe and beyond, has proven ineffectual in this region. The answer is a combination of EU and region-specific factors. The EU failed to put democracy at the centre of its policy towards the Western Balkans as it was able to for the “Big Bang” countries. Twenty years later, poor democratic governance is the main obstacle to the region’s future membership.