At present, there are no conditions for a formal enlargement of the European Union, according to Andrzej Halicki, a Member of the European Parliament from Civic Platform. As he stresses, the accession process requires compliance with strict criteria and does not allow shortcuts. At the same time, he argues that, in the longer term, the EU is likely to expand. Eurosceptic parties such as Confederation oppose this direction, claiming that the EU’s institutional structure is becoming less effective and that any future enlargement could open the door to transferring even more powers away from member states. The EU currently has 27 member states, while a number of aspiring countries are involved in the accession process at various stages.
“Today, there are no real grounds to think about the formal enlargement of the European Union,” Andrzej Halicki, a Member of the European Parliament from Civic Platform, said in an interview with Newseria. “Negotiations involve opening individual clusters and chapters and then closing them. No one can join the European Union through shortcuts. Certain standards and principles cannot be bypassed; they must be enforced rigorously and applied equally to everyone. That does not mean, however, that the Community will not become larger in the future. I believe that in the coming decades it will look very different from the one we have known so far. At that point, institutional changes may also take place. Today, of course, there is a list of countries interested in joining, but no such decision is currently on the table.”
During a speech in Warsaw in March, EU Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin emphasized that nine countries, not including Iceland, are currently at different stages of the accession process to the European Union. As he explained, the dominant narrative in member states used to be that any enlargement decision should be preceded by internal reform within the Union. In today’s realities, however, such a decision may be needed earlier so that the EU does not lose its sphere of influence to other global players. According to the Commissioner, the Western Balkans are leading the accession process. He also stressed that Ukraine’s membership is in Europe’s security interest and would bring “enormous geopolitical benefits,” although it would also involve many challenges. At the same time, he said that the enlargement process must gain public acceptance.
The countries officially recognized as candidates for EU membership are Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. Accession negotiations with Türkiye have effectively been frozen for years, while Georgia’s process was halted in 2024 after the authorities decided to suspend talks.
“Let us remember that Georgia was once very close to its dream of joining the European Community. Today it is already controlled by Russian oligarchs and pro-Russian parties, where independent media have either been dismantled or reduced to a minimum,” says the Civic Platform MEP. “The situation in the Balkans is complicated.”
One of the more serious challenges facing the Western Balkans in their efforts to join the European Union is the continued presence of Russian influence across the region. In 2023, the European Union presented a growth plan for these countries. Its central element is a Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans, under which €6 billion is to be directed to the region between 2024 and 2027. As António Costa, President of the European Council, emphasized in December 2025, the efforts of the countries in the region have clearly accelerated, particularly in Montenegro. Albania managed to open all negotiation clusters in a very short time, while Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a reform agenda that is key to participating in the growth plan. The next EU–Western Balkans summit is scheduled for June this year.
Both Andrzej Halicki and Piotr Serafin emphasize that joining the European Union is still perceived as an opportunity for development, contrary to voices claiming that European integration is moving toward disintegration.
“After Brexit, there was supposed to be a domino effect. Nothing of the kind happened—quite the opposite. Finland and Sweden joined NATO, Iceland will hold a referendum in August on returning to negotiations, which are in fact close to completion. Even Canada is considering whether to expand the CETA trade agreement. Similar discussions are taking place in Norway, which remains outside the Community, not to mention the British themselves, many of whom would like to return, although that is not so simple. The European Union is an attractive place to live, offering certain guarantees of security,” Andrzej Halicki believes.
One of the most debated issues in the context not only of enlargement, but also of the stable functioning of the EU in its current shape, is the rule of unanimity. At present, in votes concerning certain policy areas, all EU member states must agree. This gives rise to veto power, which has already been used repeatedly, including by Hungary, which has blocked sanctions against Russia. As Anna Bryłka, a Member of the European Parliament from Confederation, points out, any enlargement of the European Union could be accompanied by institutional changes and might give the European Commission a pretext to remove such “safeguards.”
“The most important of these is the veto right, meaning unanimity in foreign policy decision-making. We are fully aware that this provides a very convenient pretext for the European Commission to say: we need to change the rules of decision-making in the European Union, we need to abandon unanimity. The examples of Mercosur and the migration pact should give Polish society something to think about. We will be entering yet another area in which the veto right will no longer apply, and in which we will have no influence over policies that are genuinely harmful to Poland,” Anna Bryłka argues.
Confederation’s leaders stress that they oppose any further enlargement of the European Union.
“This institutional structure is gradually ceasing to function effectively, especially in times of crisis. We are seeing conflicts over competences and the appropriation of non-treaty powers that belong to member states. From our perspective, the most important issue is Ukraine. What should concern us most is that it is already functioning to a large extent as a member of the European Union, but without all the obligations imposed on member states, above all the obligation to adopt EU legislation,” the MEP says.
Accession talks with Ukraine formally began in June 2024. Before negotiations could move forward, the European Commission and Ukraine had to complete the screening of the chapters of the EU acquis and determine the level of Ukraine’s preparedness for EU membership. In September 2025, Ukraine successfully completed the screening process, which had lasted for more than a year.
“Ukraine is in the position of a privileged associated state linked to the European Union. It has free access to the common market without meeting all the norms and rules, without adopting the legislation that member states of the Union are required to adopt. From Poland’s perspective, this concerns, among other things, imports of agricultural and food products from Ukraine. The country is supposed to align with EU production standards by 2028, but its market access is already open, so this is completely unfair competition for agricultural producers and for the entire agri-food sector in Poland,” Anna Bryłka says.
