News Events EU35 in 2035? Dreams, Illusions and Reality 28.09.2026 Can the EU admit Ukraine while war continues - and what would that mean for Europe and countries on the waiting list? The public panel of the Vienna Peace and Security Talks confronts these difficult choices. 28.9.2026 | 18:00 - 19:30 Urania Dachsaal, Uraniastraße 1, 1010 Wien The European Union has considered admitting Ukraine as a member as early as next year. Is this realistic? And what does it mean for other candidate states that have waited for their turn for years, if not decades? Most of all, what would such an enlarged EU look like and how would it operate if one of its member states was at an active war? New forms of integration are being put on the table to accommodate ‘special circumstances’ of Ukraine as well as some other candidate countries. Concepts such as ‘enlargement light’, ‘gradual integration,’ and ‘reverse enlargement’ describe this new approach, in which political membership in the bloc could come first, with domestic reforms and EU benefits following after. More sceptical observers describe this as ‘second-class membership’ or ‘membership halfway.’ But can the EU afford not to pursue such a path? This discussion will try to imagine what an enlarged EU in 2030–2035 could look like and where an alternative scenario of not enlarging would leave the bloc. What place could Ukraine, Moldova, and the EU members in the Western Balkans have in it? What kind of relationships would this enlarged EU have with its neighbours, especially Russia and the United States? What kind of global actor would the Union be in such a constellation? The discussants will talk about these and other issues trying to offer a vision of Europe beyond the horizon of crisis. This panel is the highlight of this year’s Vienna Peace and Security Talks with a special focus on Ukraine. Welcome Michael MeierHead of FES Regional Office for International Cooperation, Vienna Sascha ObrechtDirector of the Karl-Renner-Institut, Vienna Keynote Ivan KrastevPermanent Fellow at the Institute of Human Sciences (IWM), Vienna Discussants Annika Ben-DavidPermanent Representation of Sweden to the International Organizations in Vienna Luiza BialasiewiczProfessor of Political and Economic Geography, Ca' Foscari University of Venice Moderation Hannes SwobodaPresident of the International Institute for Peace, Vienna Die Diskussion in englischer Sprache findet in Kooperation mit dem Renner-Institut (RI) und dem International Institute for Peace (IIP) statt. Register here.
