EU Policy Brief #18, “Frozen Conflicts in the EU’s Neighborhood: Enlargement With or Without De Facto States?”, written by Professor Magdalena Dembińska, Université de Montréal (May 2026), provides an analysis of the European Union (EU) offering candidate status to Moldova and Georgia despite each country having unresolved territorial conflicts with its borders.
Professor Dembinska discusses two regions – Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, and Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria. She considers each of these ‘de-facto states’ to have security risks and challenges for EU enlargement. While the accession progresses at various speeds, she argues both Abkhazia and Transnistria are practicing ‘strategic hedging’ but are largely differing in their strategies to fulfill joining the EU while continuing relations with Russia. Professor Dembinska shares her key findings and policy implications for the EU’s integration of both people and territories with the enlargement process.
The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence publishes a series of EU Policy Briefs from experts and scholars which address prominent policy issues facing the EU-Canada relationship.
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