[CFP] The Legacy of the Big Bang EU Enlargement: Lessons Learned and Future Perspectives

The Legacy of the Large Bang EU Enlargement: Classes Discovered and Future Views

1-3 June 2026

Jagiellonian College in KrakowThe First ENLARGE Worldwide Convention

Enlargement has been one of many most important successes of the European integration course of and was labelled in 2022 by the European Parliament as “the simplest EU international coverage instrument and one of many Union’s most profitable insurance policies”. Throughout the Large Bang enlargement (2004–2007), the EU underwent its most substantial accession, bringing in 12 new member states and reshaping the Union. This course of generated not solely constructive outcomes but additionally important challenges, together with financial and regional disparities, political tensions at each EU and nationwide ranges, perceptions of disempowerment and identification loss, and profound enlargement fatigue, which intensified the broader disaster affecting the Union. Enlargement essentially remodeled European political geography by shifting the boundaries of “Small Europe” to embody nearly the whole continent, shifting international locations from exterior partnership to full participation. Every enlargement had distinct traits, producing completely different configurations of the Neighborhood/Union; till 2004–2007, the instrument itself was largely considered strong and purposeful. Almost three many years later, nonetheless, a Eurosceptic dimension now represents round 30% of the European citizens, whereas a number of crises (monetary, refugee, COVID-19, battle in Ukraine) have considerably reshaped each the notion and the capacities of the EU. This convention goals to look at whether or not the EU can nonetheless act as a catalyst for progress based mostly on peace, democracy, and sustainable improvement, and to discover what classes will be drawn from the Large Bang enlargement for the Union’s future

We welcome papers in space of political science, historical past, economic system, legislation, sociology and cultural sciences, focusing (however not restricted) on:

·       Comparability of the 5 rounds of enlargement

·       Democracy, participation and legitimacy within the EU after the Large Bang Enlargement 

·       The Enlargement course of as a way of EU international coverage

·       The impression of the Large Bang enlargement on the EU & home institutional framework

·       The Reminiscence and notion of enlargement within the Central-Jap Europe

·       The way forward for enlargement: classes from the Large Bang Enlargement

·       Influence of enlargement on collective safety, NATO and transatlantic relations

Deadlines:

Please ship 200 phrase summary to [email protected] by 28 February 2026.

Notification of acceptance by early March. Draft programme by finish of March.

What’s ENLARGE

ENLARGE is a three-year educational alliance funded by the Jean Monnet Community and involving 24 companion universities from throughout Europe. The College of Bologna is the main college of the whole venture. ENLARGE’s major scientific purpose is to check the method of European Union enlargement from an unique interdisciplinary and comparative perspective. By establishing new transnational connections between European educational centres, ENLARGE promotes dialogue amongst specialists finding out the previous, current and future trajectories of this main facet of EU identification and international coverage. To this finish, the community will organise a collection of conferences, conferences, summer time faculties, workshops and different important analysis and cultural dissemination actions till September 2028. The occasion in Krakow is the primary ENLARGE worldwide convention.

For additional data, please contact the analysis managers of the venture at [email protected]