The 2015 Enlargement Package

The Enlargement Package, annually issued by the European Commission, has been impatiently awaited this year due to the long-announced improvements compared to the previous years.

This particularly concerns the new approach to assessments in country-specific progress reports, i.e. the introduction of a number of changes in the reporting style in order to increase quality, reliability and transparency of reports. The new approach in the annual country reports, along with five-tier assessment scales, is also intended to increase comparability between the countries as well as to provide the stakeholders with the possibility to scrutinize the process and the enlargement countries’ progress towards the EU.
The consequent question is how efficient is the Enlargement Package in intending to assist the countries on their path towards the EU? This CEP Insight gives a brief overview of the 2015 Enlargement Package and outlines the most important issues and concerns for the future.