{"id":541,"date":"2026-05-20T08:47:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T08:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/?p=541"},"modified":"2026-06-26T08:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:48:22","slug":"germany-needs-to-play-a-key-role-in-making-the-eu-enlargement-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/?p=541","title":{"rendered":"Germany Needs to Play a Key Role in Making the EU Enlargement-Ready"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 18, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article “Germany Needs to Play a Key Role in Making the EU Enlargement-Ready”<\/em>, authored by Linn Selle and published by Internationale Politik Quarterly and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in May 2026, argues that EU enlargement serves as a driver for institutional reform rather than being a simple accession process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response to the possibilities of Ukraine and the Western Balkans joining the European Union, the author argues that the success of this process depends on the EU’s ability to adapt its governance and common policies in order to fulfill its promise of effectiveness, security and prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By establishing a comparison with previous enlargements, all of which led to major institutional reforms, the author highlights the gap between current enlargement ambitions and the lack of significant reform within the European Union. Institutional innovation in the wake of enlargement needs drivers and alliances. Given this perspective, Germany is called upon to play a leading role, particularly within the Weimar Triangle (France, Germany, and Poland), in order to gather member states around a reform process. Considered as the leading advocate for enlargement, Germany needs to help facilitate Ukraine\u2019s EU membership in the context of a reformed accession process, or at least build the foundations for the necessary institutional adjustments. Ultimately, it is expected to take a leading role in shaping the future of an enlarged European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An enlarged European Union cannot simply be the current EU with more members. Enlargement is therefore seen as an opportunity to rethink the policy areas that will be decisive in shaping prosperity and security on the continent. The goal is to build an EU that is more unified, more effective, and more suited to current geopolitical challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article Germany Needs to Play a Key Role in Making the EU Enlargement-Ready<\/em>, authored by Linn Selle, Director of the Alfred von Oppenheim of the German Council on Foreign Relations\u2019 (DGAP) Europe Center, is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Future Shape of Europe\u201d is a series of articles, run in cooperation with the DGAP’s Europe Center, to inspire and inform the debate about EU enlargement and structural changes to the EU’s inner workings.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 18, 2026 The article “Germany Needs to Play a Key Role in Making the EU Enlargement-Ready”, authored by Linn Selle and published by Internationale Politik Quarterly and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in May 2026, argues that EU enlargement serves as a driver for institutional reform rather than being a simple accession […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,15],"tags":[27,65,60,34,28],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-insights","category-publications","tag-dgap","tag-enlargement","tag-european-union","tag-germany","tag-ukraine","entry","has-media"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role.png",816,433,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role-300x159.png",300,159,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role-768x408.png",768,408,true],"large":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role.png",816,433,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role.png",816,433,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role.png",816,433,false],"ocean-thumb-m":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role-600x433.png",600,433,true],"ocean-thumb-ml":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role-800x433.png",800,433,true],"ocean-thumb-l":["https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Germany-key-role.png",816,433,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"TNM_M","author_link":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/?author=2"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"May 18, 2026 The article “Germany Needs to Play a Key Role in Making the EU Enlargement-Ready”, authored by Linn Selle and published by Internationale Politik Quarterly and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in May 2026, argues that EU enlargement serves as a driver for institutional reform rather than being a simple accession…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}