Publication

This article addresses the issue of EU enlargement on the eve of several important decisions made in this area in December 2012. Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Albania, which have all received by and large positive assessments by the Commission, hope for a green light on moving forward on the EU track. The article, drawn from evidence submitted to the House of Lords, puts these upcoming decisions into a broader perspective, addressing experiences from the past, lessons learned and not learned in terms of processes and strategies, and the validity of the Copenhagen criteria and of the 'absorption capacity' issue.