In March 2025, Jean Monnet Professor Ekaterina Kardava, a team member of Jean Monnet Chair “European Union for Peace, Prosperity and Security” (EU PPS), prepared a research article entitled “The Matrix of EU Enlargement (The Story of Ten Countries)“.

The article was published in English in the “Deutsch-Georgische Zeitschrift für Rechtsvergleichung” (2/2025). The article discusses the importance of EU enlargement and enlargement-related decisions in the political agenda at the common European and national levels. It emphasizes the different nature of the processes and decisions on accession to the European Union from 2022, as well as the fulfilment by the member states of the obligations necessary for the process of European integration in the context of the challenges of the modern world and their compatibility with the values of the European Union.

The aim of this study is to comprehend the complexities of the accession policy and to gain a deeper understanding of the contradictory elements within the EU's enlargement policy through the example of ten countries (Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Türkiye).

In addition, the research seeks to answer the question of establishing a rational correlation between the evaluation of a nation's European integration status and its accession decision.

See the article.