Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward?
The future of Ukraine depends on its relations with the EU. What is the law governing accessions? What are the main challenges facing Ukraine on the path towards EU membership? Going through the pre-accession scrutiny in times of war, Ukraine sets a unique precedent, where more experimentation could...
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| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
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| Series: | European Journal of Risk Regulation |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X25000236/type/journal_article |
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| author | Dimitry V. Kochenov Elena Basheska |
| author_facet | Dimitry V. Kochenov Elena Basheska |
| author_sort | Dimitry V. Kochenov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The future of Ukraine depends on its relations with the EU. What is the law governing accessions? What are the main challenges facing Ukraine on the path towards EU membership? Going through the pre-accession scrutiny in times of war, Ukraine sets a unique precedent, where more experimentation could be possible to mitigate a huge risk that the EU repeats and amplifies the same mistakes it made in the Western Balkan countries – making the region a hostage of its contradictory and lethargic politics for too long. The evolution of EU enlargement law and the legal-political framework surrounding accessions across the different rounds of EU enlargement demonstrates that EU law is flexible while the practice of its application is volatile and deeply political. Enlargement practice shows that applying pre-accession conditionality may cause significant delays, while not delivering the results expected of it. A new approach to regulating accessions to the EU needs to be tested out before it is too late. This approach should build on Article 49 TEU and seek at least some depoliticisation of the enlargement process to guarantee the rule of law without dubious pre-accession techniques. Such an approach would speed-up accessions while making EU enlargement more predictable, serving the interests of Ukraine and other partners. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0f0a3c779a1441cea1b9fbbfebb2ec79 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1867-299X 2190-8249 |
| language | English |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Risk Regulation |
| spelling | doaj-art-0f0a3c779a1441cea1b9fbbfebb2ec792025-08-20T13:13:28ZengCambridge University PressEuropean Journal of Risk Regulation1867-299X2190-824911710.1017/err.2025.23Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward?Dimitry V. Kochenov0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9266-1188Elena Basheska1https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4155-5447Democracy Institute, CEU, Budapest, Hungary Department of Legal Studies, CEU, Vienna, AustriaDemocracy Institute, CEU, Budapest, HungaryThe future of Ukraine depends on its relations with the EU. What is the law governing accessions? What are the main challenges facing Ukraine on the path towards EU membership? Going through the pre-accession scrutiny in times of war, Ukraine sets a unique precedent, where more experimentation could be possible to mitigate a huge risk that the EU repeats and amplifies the same mistakes it made in the Western Balkan countries – making the region a hostage of its contradictory and lethargic politics for too long. The evolution of EU enlargement law and the legal-political framework surrounding accessions across the different rounds of EU enlargement demonstrates that EU law is flexible while the practice of its application is volatile and deeply political. Enlargement practice shows that applying pre-accession conditionality may cause significant delays, while not delivering the results expected of it. A new approach to regulating accessions to the EU needs to be tested out before it is too late. This approach should build on Article 49 TEU and seek at least some depoliticisation of the enlargement process to guarantee the rule of law without dubious pre-accession techniques. Such an approach would speed-up accessions while making EU enlargement more predictable, serving the interests of Ukraine and other partners.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X25000236/type/journal_articleArticle 49 TEUconditionalityEU enlargementpre-accessionUkraine |
| spellingShingle | Dimitry V. Kochenov Elena Basheska Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward? European Journal of Risk Regulation Article 49 TEU conditionality EU enlargement pre-accession Ukraine |
| title | Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward? |
| title_full | Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward? |
| title_fullStr | Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward? |
| title_short | Ukraine and the EU Enlargement: What Is the Law and Which Is the Way Forward? |
| title_sort | ukraine and the eu enlargement what is the law and which is the way forward |
| topic | Article 49 TEU conditionality EU enlargement pre-accession Ukraine |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1867299X25000236/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dimitryvkochenov ukraineandtheeuenlargementwhatisthelawandwhichisthewayforward AT elenabasheska ukraineandtheeuenlargementwhatisthelawandwhichisthewayforward |