Framing enlargement after the Russian invasion of Ukraine: between geopolitical drivers and procedural roadblocks

The article analyses the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the framing of EU enlargement policy. Through an empirical focus on the discursive framing of enlargement in the speeches of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and in the electoral manifestos of European party groups, it finds that the war has refocused attention on the issue of the EU’s expansion after a period of ‘enlargement fatigue’. However, this increase in salience has not yet been matched by concrete progress towards the accession of candidate states. Moreover, attitudes towards enlargement remain mixed among the EU’s major political forces. By highlighting both the dissonance between von der Leyen’s strongly pro-enlargement perspective and the more circumspect assessments coming from the EP’s ideological blocs, as well as what they have in common–namely an emphasis on enlargement as a technical process–the article sheds light on the challenges that must be overcome if the geopolitical revival of enlargement is to result in full EU membership for Ukraine and other candidates.