[Séminaire général du CEE] Geopoliticisation and the Role of the European Parliament in EU Enlargement

The war in Ukraine has put EU enlargement on the agenda after years of stagnation. It has highlighted the strategic importance of the neighbouring region to the EU, and enlargement is now framed as a geopolitical necessity. As such, enlargement has been a key issue for the European Parliament in the last few years, and it is expected to remain a political priority for the legislature of 2024-29. The European Parliament, which is traditionally seen as the most pro-enlargement EU institution, is playing an increasing role in the enlargement process. Yet, this role remains largely unexplored in the literature. To address this shortcoming, the paper analyses the internal, inter-institutional, and international interactions and dynamics of the European Parliament in relation to enlargement. Using a framework of parliamentary diplomacy, the paper argues that the resources and structure of the European Parliament allow it to play a significant role in the enlargement process when internally united, but that this influence may be undermined by internal divisions between and within the political groups.
 

Speaker

Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén, University of Westminster & AxPo Visiting Fellow

Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Politics and International Relations. She is teaching EU studies at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. 

Her research interests are in the areas of EU external relations and international negotiations. She has produced articles on these topics for leading journals, including Comparative European Politics, International Negotiation, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, and Policy and Politics, and she recently published a monograph on The EU in International Negotiations (Palgrave Macmillan).

She is a regular media commentator, and has been working with media outlets both in the UK and overseas, including the BBC, Deutsche Welle, France 24, Huffington Post, Open Democracy, PMP Magazine, The Conversation, and UK in a Changing Europe. 

Prior to joining the University of Westminster, Magdalena worked as Development Director at the Institute for Citizenship and as Public Affairs Officer at the UK Office of the European Parliament. 

Chair 

Cyril Benoît, Sciences Po, CEE, CNRS

Discussant

Jan Rovny, Sciences Po, CEE