February 9, at 12:00 in the European Parliament’s building in Brussels: Building a Transnational Developmental State in Europe: Lessons from the Big Bang enlargement for the next integration round – Enlargement Hub Debate, based on the paper by Laszlo Bruszt and Julia Langbein which has just been published in the Journal of European Public Policy.
Briefly on the paper: EU enlargement is not only about adopting rules, but also about managing the economic and political fallout of integrating less developed economies into the Single Market. Drawing lessons from the 2004–2007 Big Bang enlargement, the article shows that the EU quietly built a short-lived Transnational Developmental State to prevent destabilising outcomes—an experience that is highly relevant today as the Union prepares for Ukraine’s accession and the next enlargement round.