On 26-27 February, MAXCAP partner Sofia University hosted an international public discussion between politicians, practitioners and researchers on the „Advantages of EU Enlargement – What Could the Applicant Countries Learn from the EU; What Could the EU Learn from the Applicant Countries?“.

At the outset of the conference, Mr. Daniel Mitov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, Ms. Dzema Grozdanova, Chairperson of the Bulgarian Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy, Mr. Ognian Zlatev, Head of the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria and Prof. Anastas Gerdjikov, Rector of Sofia University addressed the international audience with their comments on the EU’s enlargement strategy and on MAXCAP’s relevance in researching how the EU can maximize its integration capacity for current and future enlargements. MAXCAP partners from Central European University, Leiden University, the London School of Economics and Sofia University then presented core findings of their recent work on the successes and prospects of past and future EU enlargements. Core policy recommendations, which were discussed at the workshop (and can also be found in MAXCAP’s recent Policy Brief No. 2), included the need to sustain public support for further enlargement and to strengthen the impact of the EU on local rule of law enforcement. Overall, about 30 participants contributed to the discussion with presentations and personal inputs, and were joined by more than 30 visitors. The conference’s booklet, which contains the conference program and lists all participants and their valuable inputs, can be downloaded.