Invitation | The European Union, the geopolitics of enlargement and the European Political Community

We would like to invite you to a debate entitled "The European Union, the Geopolitics of Enlargement and the European Political Community ", which will take place on Monday 12 June at the French Institute in Prague at 17:30.

The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation last year has completely overhauled the geopolitical situation on the European continent. It has exposed key vulnerabilities in EU security, reshaped the geography of enlargement, and put the EU’s geopolitical ambitions to the test. In the past fifteen months, European governments have been reviewing their strategic approaches, reaffirmed their commitment towards enlargement and raised their level of engagement both in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe. But much remains to be done to re-ascertain the credibility of the process twenty years after the Thessaloniki Declaration, frame a credible approach for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in the new geopolitical context and, above all, bolster cooperation among the capitals on such strategic issues. It is in this context that in October 2022, the European Political Community (EPC) has been established in Prague. Its goal is to bolster convergence on strategic issues. What has been achieved by the EPC so far? How can this new intergovernmental format contribute to strengthening the EU accession path of the Western Balkans Six, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia? What pitfalls should it avoid? How to translate into action the EU’s renewed geostrategic interest for enlargement and what shifts in the Union’s approach would be necessary?

This public discussion is part of the EPC Strategic Dialogues initiative, an initiative launched in 2022 with the aim of intensifying exchanges on the EPC in Europe. The discussion in Prague will be organized in a Salvkov Plus format by the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy, the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe (Vienna), Eurocréative (Paris), the French Institute of International Relations (Paris) and the French Embassy in Prague. 

For in-person participation please register here.

Working language: French and Czech with simultaneous translation 

17h30 - Opening

• Alexis Dutertre, Ambassador of France to the Czech Republic

17h40 - The European Political Community- one year after the Summit of Prague

• Štěpán Černý, Director-General of the Section for European Affairs, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic
• Martina Klenner - Auvillain, Head of the Department for EU coordination, enlargement and external relations at the Austrian Federal Chancellery, Vienna 
• Hughes Moret, Special Envoy for the European Political Community at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Paris 

Moderation: Jana Juzová, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Global Europe Programme at the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy

18h30 - Geopolitical Europe and the new geographies of enlargement

• Jana Juzová, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Global Europe Programme at the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy
• Florent Parmentier, Secretary-General of CEVIPOF Sciences-Po, Paris
• Tomáš Strážay, Director of the Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, Bratislava (SFPA)

Moderation: Florent Marciacq, Deputy Secretary General of the Austro-French Centre for Rapprochement in Europe and Director of the Observatoire des Balkans, Paris

19h25 - Conclusion

• Romain le Quiniou, Director of Eurocréative, Paris

19h30 - end of the discussion and networking drinks

Alexandra Visnerova
Senior Project Manager, Transatlantic Policy Forum

Jana Juzová
Senior Research Fellow

Expertise: regionalism, Visegrad cooperation, democratization and European integration of the Western Balkan countries, EU enlargement