ABSTRACT
For two decades, enlargement of the European Union (EU) constituted one of Wilton Park’s most important series. Major conferences were convened in some 20 countries including most candidate states. They marked the advent of Wilton Park as a sought-after international forum and partner which could operate around the world. The series constituted an important Track II process inputting into the formal accession negotiations, and supported British foreign policy objectives to extend UK (and EU) political and economic influence. After the collapse of Communism, enlargement was regarded as a process helping the EU export stability rather than import instability from Central Europe. If reforms in and enlargement to Central Europe had failed, unrest on its borders and growing migration pressures were feared. Wilton Park also examined the EU’s southern dimension. This chapter also explores the varying stances of Member States towards enlargement (in particular the debate over whether enlargement would weaken European integration), the challenges faced by candidate countries in meeting the 1993 Copenhagen membership criteria, progress in accession negotiations, and forecasts and assessments of the impact of enlargement on the EU and its policies.
