Investing in security: how to strengthen the EU’s future members

By envisaging membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, the EU has rejected a Russian sphere of influence and instead determined where its future borders should lie. This decision is slowly leading to policies tailored to effectively respond to a geopolitical context which also sees China and other third states competing for influence in the candidate countries of the Western Balkans and the Eastern neighbourhood.

Whereas the ‘tools of integration’ offer pathways for the pre-accession access of candidate countries to the EU’s defence industrial market, the EU’s ‘tools of intervention’ reveal a mismatch between the actual and perceived threats. Meanwhile, public support for security guarantees and EU enlargement is under pressure in several Member States. This session asks how the EU can strengthen and support its future members.