Unblocking decision-making in EU enlargement

The EU enlargement process has been bogged down for at least the past decade. While the new geopolitical landscape and urgency created following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought EU enlargement back to the fore, bottlenecks remain in the EU enlargement decision-making process. This paper contributes to the debate on how to reform EU decision-making on EU enlargement so as to make it more effective and, by extension, so that the EU regains its credibility in its neighbourhood and beyond. If the EU is serious about its ambition to be a geopolitical actor, considering the political, legal and institutional implications of QMV in EU enlargement will be key.