The conference will focus on recent developments in the EU’s enlargement policy and the growing need for flexibility in defining EU membership and in shaping the EU’s relationship with neighbouring countries, as well as on the implications of this flexibility on the internal coherence of the EU legal order. The speakers will explore the current state of affairs with regard to Ukraine, the Western Balkans, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and will reflect on how the EU’s evolving trajectory influences its legal framework in light of broader geopolitical dynamics and existing legal constraints.Speakers:

• Antonios Antoniadis is Senior Legal Counsellor (Head of Unit equivalent) at the Council of the European Union;

• Mielle Bulterman is a senior legal expert in European law;

• Antoaneta Dimitrova is Professor of Political Science at Leiden University;

• Narin Idriz is a researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague;

• Adam Łazowski is Professor of EU Law at the University of Westminster;

• Maria Patrin is a Marie Curie Fellow at the Jacques Delors Centre;

• Roman Petrov is Professor and Head of the International and European Law Department at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy;

• Stefaan Van den Bogaert is Professor of European Law and Director of the Europa Institute at Leiden University.