EU enlargement | Euronews

English Newsletters Events Podcasts Videos Africanews Search

Europe News

Brussels faces moment of truth over EU expansion

EU enlargement is set to face its moment of truth in the coming months as Montenegro and Albania near membership, Ukraine and Moldova advance, and Brussels weighs reforms needed to absorb a bigger, more complex Union.

Europe News

Fish over Trump: Economy will determine Iceland's vote on the EU

While Arctic security and US claims over Greenland dominate international headlines, Icelanders are set to decide their European future on far more familiar grounds such as fish and farming. The 29 August referendum is less about geopolitics than sovereignty and identity.

Euronews investigates

Why has Iceland distanced itself from the European Union?

So near and yet so far. On August 29, Iceland voted in a referendum to abandon membership talks with the EU. A few weeks before, we travelled to the volcanic island to investigate the fears and doubts that drove it away from its European neighbours.

Europe News

EU's enlargement risks becoming a victim of its own success

EU enlargement is accelerating, but the Commission's responsible department is running out of capacity to manage negotiations with several candidate countries at once.

ADVERTISEMENT

Europe News

How Serbia could further complicate Ukraine's EU accession bid

Serbia's stalled EU accession bid risks becoming entangled with Ukraine's, as Western Balkans-friendly states push to maintain geographical balance and equality of treatment.

Europe News

Safeguards for new EU members need objective criteria, Montenegro says

Montenegro is backing new EU rule-of-law safeguards for future members while insisting they must be based on objective criteria and not create a second tier of membership.

12 minutes with

Germany's Europe minister on EU budget: 'Options are limited'

For leading German politician Gunther Krichbaum (CDU), Minister of State for Europe, it is time for the EU to rethink and seek new paths, on enlargement and the budget alike.

Europe News

How Montenegro might complicate the EU's budget talks

Montenegro's €3.2 billion EU accession package is small change for the bloc's taxpayers, but it could set a precedent for how future enlargements are funded.

Europe News

'The tide is turning': Inside Ursula von der Leyen's trip to Kyiv

Ursula von der Leyen's latest visit to Kyiv captured a shift in momentum. The battlefield has moved to the skies and accession is yielding tangible results. "The tide is turning," she declared.

Europe News

Von der Leyen in Kyiv to talk drones and EU accession with Zelenskyy

The visit of the president of the European Commission to Kyiv will have a heavy focus on drone production and EU accession.

Europe News

Ukraine's EU accession path becomes clearer as Cluster 6 opens

Ministers in Brussels approved the opening of another portion of Ukrainian accession negotiations on Tuesday. The decision continues the erosion of a two-year deadlock caused by the former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Europe News

Newsletter: Push for sanctions on Russia goes to the wire

Good morning, readers. This is Mared Gwyn. In this Tuesday morning newsletter: the final push to get fresh sanctions on Russia over the line, exclusive lines from an interview with the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, and another packed day of enlargement talks.

Europe News

EU agrees to open new accession phase with Ukraine and Moldova

Ukraine and Moldova will formally open cluster six of accession negotiations on 14 July. This leaves them with four clusters still blocked.

Europe News

Eight EU countries oppose opening next accession cluster for Serbia

In a major blow to Belgrade’s bid to join the European Union, EU ambassadors who gathered in Brussels on Wednesday failed to find unanimity on Serbia's path toward joining the bloc.

Europe News

Don't punish struggling EU candidates, Bosnia-Herzegovina's ambassador

Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU ambassador warns that cutting Western Balkans funding over stalled reforms risks turning accession into a competition and fuelling anti-EU sentiment ahead of October elections.

Europe News

Commission renews pressure to open new accession cluster with Serbia

Commission pushes EU states to open Serbia's accession Cluster 3 in July, citing reform progress on foreign policy alignment, rule of law and electoral legislation. But the move is set to face opposition from the member states.

Europe News

EXCLUSIVE: Brussels and capitals in collision over Serbia's EU bid

Brussels is seeking to revive Serbia's accession bid and could discuss as early as Wednesday its case for opening Cluster 3. But EU capitals remain divided over whether recent measures are enough to offset wider democratic backsliding. For some, it's too much, too soon.

Europe Today

Ukraine's ambassador on enlargement: focus on substance, not titles

Ukraine's EU ambassador Chentsov says enlargement talks should focus on substance, not labels, as Kyiv pushes to move forward on the accession process as soon as possible.

Europe Today

Newsletter: Shining a light on who gets into the EU

In today's newsletter: Debate ratchets-up about how to grow the 27-member club, Russia intensifies strikes on Ukraine's capital, and how the most high-ranking EU official will paper over a gaffe while at the NATO summit in Ankara.

Europe Today

Russia launches another deadly attack on Kyiv ahead of the NATO summit

Russia launches another deadly attack on Kyiv ahead of the NATO summit as Ukraine seeks stronger military support and progress on EU membership. Meanwhile, thousands protest against Germany's far-right AfD as the European Commission prepares reforms to the EU enlargement process.