Abstract
The EU’s recently proclaimed geopolitical turn, that we see as an instance of “transitional order” (Beasley, Oppermann, and Kaarbo 2026), has reshaped its enlargement policy, transforming it from a predominantly socialising process into an explicit instrument of geopolitical positioning (cf. Privitera et al. 2024). The rapid upgrading of the Eastern Partnership countries into an “Associated Trio” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine formalised the narrative framing the EU as a geopolitical power (Anghel 2025). Whereas classical accession conditionality in Central and Southeast Europe assumed primarily gradual normative socialisation, the revival of enlargement in a geopolitical disguise exhibits a growing element of geopolitical “altercasting” (Oppermann 2024), characterised by more explicit expectations (and possible status rewards) regarding strategic alignment and positioning. While this turn was expected to produce stronger patterns of (re)alignment among candidate countries, the geopoliticisation of enlargement also appears to generate increasingly transactional (or somewhat ambiguous) modes of engagement. This paper, therefore, examines how EU candidates position themselves at the EU integration stage within the transitional international order. Have they gotten fully on board with the Geopolitical Power EU, or do they consider pursuing hedging due to the uncertainties of the “merit-based approach”? The study uses the original quantitative and qualitative data from the Geo-Power-EU project, including the country-based Interdependence Database containing the entries on political, security, economic, and social spheres before and during the geopolitical turn. We also leverage the original qualitative data from interviews by local experts, journalists, and politicians from 9 countries to assess their perception of the consequences of the geopolitical turn. By using the concepts from foreign policy role theory, we flesh out the processes related to role adaptation and contestation in the times of international order transition at the global level and its momentous implications for Europe and its states.
Panel: Geopolitical Power Europe: A Reality Check in Western Balkans and Eastern Neighbourhood
Cite this presentation
@inproceedings{eiss-2026-geopoliticisation-of-eu-enlargement-in-the-western-balkans-and-eastern-partnersh,
author = {Marko Kovačević and Milan Varda and Dr Tijana Rečević Krstić},
title = {Geopoliticisation of EU Enlargement in the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership: A Role-Theoretical Perspective},
booktitle = {European Security Studies Conference 2026},
year = {2026},
url = {https://eiss-europa.com/papers/2026-geopoliticisation-of-eu-enlargement-in-the-western-balkans-and-eastern-partnersh.html}
}