The MAXCAP Policy Brief No. 4 “Consolidating and Revitalizing Enlargement: Further Insights from MAXCAP” has been published. You can download the Policy Brief here.

The Policy Brief evaluates the capacity of the EU to integrate new member states. The MAXCAP Policy Task Force finds that EU institutions have coped well with the accession of a large number of new member states. The research also shows that EU accession conditionality and support have had a positive impact on the political systems and economies of candidate countries. By contrast, the EU needs to strengthen its political conditionality and revise its economic policies towards both new member states and non-candidate neighbouring countries. This Policy Brief points at the areas and instruments that need to be reformed to consolidate and revitalize EU enlargement. 

The MAXCAP Policy Briefs build on the project’s research on the EU’s integration capacity and aim to formulate specific policy recommendations for practitioners on the EU and/or national level. They are published by the MAXCAP Policy Task Force. The composition of the Task Force varies depending on the topic and expertise of MAXCAP partners.

It is the objective of the MAXCAP Policy Brief Series to disseminate the research results of the research consortium to a wide audience, including the academia as well as the general public. Thus, all Policy Briefs can be downloaded free of charge from our website.