The Zeitenwende (‘watershed’) triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has catapulted EU enlargement back to the centre of Germany’s European and foreign policy. Geopolitics has thereby become the prime motive for supporting EU enlargement and Berlin has signalled a firm commitment to the accession prospects of the countries of the Western Balkans and, since June 2022, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. At the same time, German decision makers feel responsible for keeping the EU from ‘falling apart’ by preventing it from integrating ill-prepared candidates into an ill-prepared Union. For the candidates, Germany continues to insist on a merits-based approach, which is however complicated by the geopolitical imperative to speed up the process. For the Union itself, Berlin is effectively using the argument of absorption capacity as a driver to reform EU institutions and decision making. Germany is thus leaving behind its policy of ‘consolidation first’ for a double strategy of widening and reforming the EU.
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