The ‘New Momentum’ of the Enlargement Policy and the Need to Strike the Right Balance between Reform and Enlargement

This article analyzes the EU strategy for enlargement taking into consideration the need to reach a balance between widening and deepening, through the perspective of European values. As shown by the fast-track followed to grant the candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, the last international events have given a new impetus to the enlargement process, and it will probably re-energize and unblock even the issue of Western Balkans. However, the future strategy has to take full account of two potentially conflicting objectives: speed and quality. Speed is needed to face geopolitical challenges and to promote stability, but quality is vital to safeguard the European values, as enshrined under art. 2 TEU. Such values must be the at the heart of the enlargement process and the key benchmark against which progress towards EU membership is assessed.