It has been 30 years since Austria, Finland and Sweden organised their respective European Union (EU) referendums that led to the accession of the three countries in 1995. Now enlargement is back as a major issue on the EU’s agenda. However, different Member States continue to have diverging preferences, priorities and concerns regarding the enlargement process. How does the accession trio of 1995 position itself in today’s enlargement debates and how have their policies evolved in recent years? Are there any shared views that could serve as building blocks for broader EU consensus – or are we witnessing three separate national perspectives that underline the EU’s lack of unity?
The Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) and the Austrian Society for European Politics (ÖGfE)/Europa Club Wien, bring together experts from Austria, Finland and Sweden to discuss the three countries’ views on EU enlargement in a dedicated webinar on 5 December 2024, 10:30 EET//9:30 CET.
Speakers include:
• Dr. Calle Håkansson, Researcher at the Swedish Defence Research Agency’s Division for Defence Analysis & Associate Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs (UI);
• Tyyne Karjalainen, Researcher in the European Union and Strategic Competition research programme, FIIA;
• Paul Schmidt, Secretary General, Austrian Society for European Politics (OEGfE) & editor of the ‘Future of Europe: Views from the Capitals’ series;
• Moderated by Dr. Sanna Salo, Post-Doctoral Fellow in the European Union and Strategic Competition research programme, FIIA.