On 4 November 2026, REUNIR took part in the final conference of the EU-funded InvigoratEU project at the Fondation Universitaire in Brussels. The conference was organised by TEPSA and titled Invigorating EU Enlargement.
Tinatin Akhvlediani, Head of the Enlargement Programme at CEPS, represented REUNIR in the session “Insights with Sister Projects.” She presented findings and recommendations from REUNIR’s research on how the EU can better support the socio-economic resilience of candidate countries.
The panel brought together the four Horizon Europe projects working on EU enlargement and neighbourhood policy:
- REUNIR
- RE-ENGAGE
- GEO-POWER-EU, represented by its coordinator Nikolaos Tzifakis (University of the Peloponnese)
- InvigoratEU, represented by Funda Tekin (Institut für Europäische Politik)
Speakers exchanged on the projects’ methodologies, definitions and policy recommendations for identifying and addressing threats and strengthening resilience in EU candidate countries.
A key takeaway was that the EU should combine three things: enhanced engagement, strict and consistent conditionality, and policy tools co-designed with candidate countries. Socio-economic resilience must also receive the same attention as security, democracy and the political landscape. Socio-economic conditions strongly shape both societal resilience and how citizens experience and perceive the accession process.
The conference continued on 5 November with high-level debates on:
- modernisation versus geopolitics in enlargement policy
- a revised enlargement methodology
- critical infrastructure and connectivity
- foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI)
Speakers included representatives of DG ENEST, the EEAS, the Council and candidate countries’ missions to the EU.
Find out more about the InvigoratEU project and its final conference here.
