ShapingEU

The project addresses the challenges that confront the European Union as a consequence of Russia’s full-scale invasion to Ukraine. These developments have fundamentally changed the conditions of operation in Europe. Over the course of this military conflict, as well as its various impacts, such as Moldova’s and Ukraine’s application for EU membership, the EU is redefining its external relations. This has become necessary also because China and Russia are making more political and economic investments in the Western Balkans. All these external processes that revived the enlargement policy have implications for the internal set-up of the EU and its capacity to absorb new member states. Hence, both external and internal changes are on the table and the EU needs to address both issues properly in order to maintain its functionality and not to lose trust among the citizens of member and applicant states.

The Chair project ShapingEU therefore investigates more closely the nature of these challenges and the responses provided so far by EU institutions. This is achieved by teaching students and by fostering the dialogue with non-academic partners and wider audiences. Especially the enlargement debate shows very precisely that the EU wants to stand for a more geopolitical union, and this has to be debated across Europe, with outside partners and beyond the university structures. More specifically, the themes being focused on include intra- and inter-institutional reforms, such as the decision-making procedures in the European Council, a different approach regarding the number of European Commissioners and a change of the operational modes of the European Parliament. They all create dynamics for the co-decision process in law-making, i.e. it is necessary to look more closely into the discussion about the amendment of the Lisbon Treaty and the results of the Conference on the Future of Europe that ended in December 2022. The Chair project also seeks to understand how the changed methodology of enlargement for the Western Balkan region corresponds with the debates inside the EU and how this again influences the progress of enlargement after Ukraine and Moldova received candidate status in June 2022. The study of these issues allows to better assess the shape of the European Union. Various formats, such as simulations, case study research, public discussions and publications enable students, experts and society to understand how the EU is engaging to address the changing conditions in Europe in a functional way and what gaps remain to be worked on. It is the objective of the Chair project to provide a more informed debate and by doing this to generate more trust in the EU’s capacity to act efficiently.

In order to fill the knowledge gap on how EU enlargement and internal reforms are intertwined, especially in the field of rule of law, democratic procedures and fundamental rights, closer collaboration with existing partners is central: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for European Studies and Middle East Technical University in Ankara. In addition, new partnerships in the region of the accession countries are established.