Conference on the 15th Anniversary of the 2004 EU Enlargement: Looking back, looking forward

This event, co-organised by the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) -the European Commission’s in-house think tank, operating directly under the authority of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker- and the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), marks the15th anniversary of the May 2004 first wave of EU enlargement in which eventually 11 Baltics, Central and South Eastern European countries joined the EU. It aims to bring together prominent political figures, policy makers and experts from the EU Member States, International and European institutions, the private sector and academia, to identify and reflect on the experiences and the impacts of this EU enlargement episode. The event will focus on the identification and discussion of experiences from which wider lessons can be learnt, using concrete country cases. It will consider the channels through which EU membership has helped to speed up convergence, via analysis of the role e.g trade, investment, financial integration and institutional channels have played.