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ENHANCING THE SUCCESS OF ENLARGEMENT THROUGH THE POLITICAL OWNERSHIP - TERITORIAL CAPITAL NEXUS

Project description

Rethinking EU enlargement for a diverse neighbourhood

As the EU prepares for enlargement, understanding why accession reforms succeed in some candidate countries but stall in others matters. The EU-funded OWN-EU project seeks to improve enlargement policy by examining the relationship between political ownership of reforms and the territorial capital available to candidate countries in the Eastern Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans. Bringing together researchers, policymakers and citizens, it will analyse lessons from previous enlargement rounds while exploring how state capacity, territorial inequalities and development assets shape accession outcomes. Through comparative research, living labs, pilot actions and stakeholder engagement, the project will co-create evidence-based policy recommendations. By developing practical tools and differentiated approaches, it will support a more effective and inclusive enlargement process tailored to candidate countries’ needs and characteristics.

Objective

OWN-EU reframes enlargement strategies and policies for the Eastern Neighbourhood and Western Balkans (ENWB) by coupling lessons from past rounds with a novel analytical lens: the nexus between political ownership (behavioural, administrative and societal commitment to change) and territorial capital (human, institutional, infrastructural, social, environmental and geo-strategic assets). This framework recognizes the heterogeneity of ENWB candidates countries - different state capacities, territorial disparities, conflict legacies and connectivity gaps - and explains why identical conditionality yields divergent outcomes. Building a comparative evidence from previous enlargements, OWN-EU aims, thus, to examine and understand the role of such contrasts between and within candidate states in order to provide dynamic recommendations for how the EU should redesign its enlargement strategy and increase its effectiveness, while delivering differentiated approaches that take into account the characteristics of each candidate state. Evidence is co-produced with citizens and authorities by applying experiments (e.g. living Labs in candidate countries), pilots in EU members, surveys, focus groups, interviews, questionnaires. Transparent participation - foresight workshops, scenario debates, digital feedback loops - will facilitate the involvement of citizens and policy makers to actively engage in the evaluation and design of policies and to express their interest in enlargement and, respectively, accession to the EU. By coupling rigorous analytics with practical tools and inclusive engagement, OWN-EU equips EU and national actors to finely calibrate conditionality, target investments, anticipate risks and communicate clearly. The outcome is a differentiated, legitimate and citizen-backed enlargement strategy that accelerates democratic resilience and sustainable Europeanisation across a diverse ENWB.

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Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL2-2025-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITATEA ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA DIN IASI
Net EU contribution
€ 536 750,00
Address
BULEVARDUL CAROL I 11
700506 Iasi
Romania
Region
Macroregiunea Doi Nord-Est Iaşi
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data

Participants (17)