Vilnius, Lithuania, 11th September 2023
Sandro Knezović, PhD, a Research Advisor at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), participated as a speaker at the international conference entitled ‘The Future of the EU: Preparing the Ground for Future Enlargement’, organised by the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at the Vilnius University.
The event gathered prominent experts on the EU enlargement from different EU member states. The debate focused on the issue of further enlargement of the EU in a very demanding geostrategic environment characterised by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Namely, while the integration process in Southeast Europe has been stalled for quite a long period of time, the developments at the EU’s eastern flanks have forced the Union to grant the candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova and open the same perspective to Georgia after it meets certain criteria. In a situation where there are more than ten candidate and potential candidate states, the EU also has to find ways to make the decision-making procedures swifter and more efficient. Hence, the issue of qualified-majority voting and other potential models of sustainable decision-making and adequate political representation have been discussed.
