Denis Cenusa1; 1 Geopolitical Security Studies Centre, Lithuania
Discussion
The 2022 inclusion of Eastern Partnership countries in the EU enlargement policy has enriched the public debate about the strategy of future EU accession waves. The rapid progress of Ukraine and Moldova has positioned them as strong contenders for moving towards potential membership. The blocked EU accession dialogue for Georgia, due to democratic backsliding, has underscored the EU's interest in closely monitoring Ukraine and Moldova. In this context, the perception of increasing interdependence between the EU accession processes of Ukraine and Moldova has strengthened. This has revealed the EU’s preference for the "one-package" approach towards Ukraine and Moldova in public discourse. This “one-package” way of enlargement echoes a similar format applied to Albania and North Macedonia in the Western Balkans. This article has a two-fold structure. First, it aims to analyse “why” counterarguments against the “one-package” approach towards Ukraine and Moldova are employed, using discourse analysis on political actors in Ukraine and Moldova. Second, the article seeks to map out the “one-package” contestation in the Western Balkans, with a focus on Albania and North Macedonia. The comparative analysis of two sets of EU candidates will help to differentiate between the “one-package” contestation across different regions of the EU enlargement.
