Participatory EU Enlargement

The question of EU enlargement will be one of the most important European issues in the coming years, fundamentally shaping the future of the Union and the lives of millions of people. However, enlargement can only succeed if it is inclusive and ensures the active participation of all stakeholders.
EU enlargement has traditionally been an elite-driven, top-down process with limited opportunity for citizen engagement.
But there is now a growing recognition and understanding that without meaningful citizen involvement, the EU cannot fully realize its own democratic ideals and values − principles that lie at the heart of the Union and form a core foundation of the enlargement process. Citizen participation is critical at a time when policy issues are complex, public trust in institutions is low, and populist forces can capitalize on both disinformation and legitimate concerns. Citizens of today are also increasingly calling for more direct and meaningful participation in political decisions all across Europe. Moreover, amid rising Euroscepticism, it is increasingly important that the enlargement process moves forward with genuine public support and engagement − both within current member states and in candidate countries.

The current enlargement participation gap is evident in the lack of participatory formats related to EU enlargement at both national and EU levels, the limited number of open and public debates addressing citizen concerns related to enlargement, the minimal visibility of citizens’ voices in accession progress reports, and the negligible inclusion of public feedback in shaping priorities or benchmarks across negotiation chapters.

The EU has recognized this gap and is trying to prioritize meaningful citizen involvement in EU enlargement as evidenced by declarations by the European Parliament as well as top officials, like the European Commissioner for Enlargement.

To strengthen citizen participation in one of the most important debates about the future of the European Union, we would like to launch Participatory EU Enlargement, a project designed to empower and connect citizens of the EU, the Western Balkans, and Ukraine to actively engage in shaping the EU enlargement process. The project’s goal is to promote citizen participation in the EU enlargement, enable exchanges between citizens, experts, and NGOs from both current members and candidate countries to express their ideas and concerns, and equip them with tools, knowledge, and opportunities to discuss and jointly shape the future of the EU.
In the project activities, we will use citizen engagement and participatory methods in 8 countries (3 current EU members, Poland, Germany, and Hungary, 4 candidate countries, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Ukraine, and 1 potential candidate, Kosovo) to help citizens understand the EU enlargement process and their impact on their daily life, foster discussions and debates between citizens from different countries to share experiences and perspectives on EU enlargement and integration, and enable different stakeholders to outline their long-term vision for the future of European integration.
➢ First, we will hold interactive trainings in all 8 countries for young citizens and NGO representatives to equip them with skills and knowledge for active participation in the EU enlargement process, introduce and test real participatory tools, and gather citizen insights and recommendations to inform local, national, and EU policymakers on preferred and effective methods for participatory enlargement.
➢ Then, an interactive simulation event, held in 4 countries with mixed EU and non-EU participants, will deepen understanding of the EU enlargement process through role-play, dialogue, and training-of-trainers (ToT), enabling young multipliers to explore real-world challenges, articulate diverse perspectives, and promote sustained citizen engagement in participatory enlargement.
➢ The first large-scale international project event in Poland will bring together citizens from 10–12 countries for interactive discussions, gamified learning, and collaborative workshops to explore EU enlargement, strengthen transnational networks, and co-create shared visions for the future of Europe, fostering a sense of ownership and engagement in the enlargement process.
➢ Next, three youth policy labs will be organized to bring together young policy experts from 4–6 countries to engage in expert-level discussions on key EU policy areas, develop cross-border recommendations, and foster long-term sectoral cooperation and transnational networks.
➢ An online event will bring together NGOs from 10-12 member and candidate countries to discuss NGO strategies to impact the EU enlargement process with a focus on long-term cooperation and knowledge exchange.
➢ Finally, an international Youth Dialogues on Future Enlargement event will convene young citizens from across Europe (10-12 countries) to engage directly with EU policymakers, share their visions for the future of enlargement, and co-create youth-led recommendations that inform and enrich EU decision-making with diverse, forward-looking perspectives.
➢ All events will be organized in an inclusive manner with dedicated efforts to ensure gender equality, non-discrimination, and diverse participation.

PEN Consortium

The Participatory EU Enlargement project brings together a consortium of eight partners from eight countries: Poland, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Ukraine.
All partners engage with youth and, therefore are suitable to involve and mobilize our main target groups, but they each bring special expertise, geographic coverage, and social reach to ensure the realization of the project’s main goals. When choosing the members of the consortium, national, regional, and international memberships and networks were important, thereby ensuring the multiplication of communication, mobilization, and dissemination channels.

Invitation to the PEN Workshops on EU Enlargement

Dear Sir or Madam,
Dear all with an interest in European integration,
As part of the educational project “PEN – Participatory EU Enlargement Project” (a project for more education and participation in the context of EU enlargement) – funded by the European Union with the aim of empowering and connecting citizens from eight countries (three current EU Member States: Poland, Germany and Hungary; four candidate countries: Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania; and one potential candidate: Kosovo) –
we cordially invite you to two workshops that build on each other in terms of content and methodology.
The events will focus on the political, legal, institutional and social dimensions of EU enlargement, as well as the prerequisites and instruments for meaningful civil society participation.

Workshop 1: EU Enlargement and Citizen Participation – Interactive Analysis and Discussion

Date: Tuesday, 10 November 2026
Time: 10:30–17:00

Workshop 2: Simulation of EU Enlargement and Training of Multipliers

Date: Tuesday, 24 November, and Wednesday, 25 November 2026
Time: 24 November: 10:00–approx. 16:00
25 November: 09:00–approx. 14:00

Venue:
Ukrainian Free University (UFU), Barellistraße 9A, 80638 Munich

A more detailed description of the thematic focus, the didactic and methodological concept and the intended learning objectives can be found in the section “Concept and Content”.

REGISTRATION:

You may attend both workshops or just one of the two formats.
For registration, please contact: [email protected] ; [email protected];
Once you have registered and your participation has been confirmed, you will receive all further organisational information as well as the detailed agenda.

Yours sincerely,

RBF – The Remembrance Forum e. V. & Ukrainian Free University (UFU) in Munich

Our thanks go to our cooperation partners, including the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom / Thomas Dehler Stiftung and the European Academy of Bavaria.

Concept and Content:

The workshops bring together participants from different social and institutional contexts in a dialogue-based working format (“workshops”). They aim to convey a nuanced understanding of the political, institutional and practical challenges of European accession processes and of the functional and decision-making logic of the European Union, while testing and further developing different formats of civic participation.

Workshop 1 is aimed particularly, but not exclusively, at students from Germany and Ukraine. Academically grounded input from experts is systematically combined with practical experience and diverse perspectives from both countries. The Ukrainian perspective is contributed in particular by students of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich. The results are presented in a structured manner, critically reflected upon in plenary and opened up for discussion.
The project examines the future institutional and political direction of the European Union, with particular regard to possible enlargement prospects. It analyses the legal and institutional foundations as well as the individual procedural steps of a potential accession of further states; at present, eight states officially hold candidate status. Particular emphasis is placed on Ukraine.
In this context, the prerequisites, scope and concrete options for shaping civic participation are discussed. Methodologically, the format does not follow an exclusively instructional approach, but combines expert input with interactive and problem-oriented working phases in a workshop format. With academic and practical support, participants identify and analyse key questions and challenges and engage with instruments and formats of political participation.
Dialogue-based, multi-perspective exchange is the guiding didactic principle. Wherever possible, the insights gained will be condensed into recommendations, fed back to the European level in Brussels and incorporated into a final report.

Workshop 2 deepens this approach in a one-and-a-half-day, simulation-based format. Participants model key phases of the EU enlargement process and take on various institutional and national roles.
The analysis focuses on the divergent interests, rationales for action and perspectives of the EU institutions as well as of the Member States and candidate countries, in particular Germany as an established member of the Council and Ukraine as a potential accession state. The simulation makes both the formal procedural structures and the political, normative and substantive conflicts of the enlargement process comprehensible.
On the second day, participants will be enabled, as multipliers, to transfer the debate on a possible EU enlargement into their respective working and professional contexts in an academically sound manner tailored to their audiences. The results obtained here will also be systematically documented, synthesised and forwarded to the relevant bodies.

Accompanying the content: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Sabathil, former EU Ambassador, as well as other experts from academia and practice.