01564nam a22001097a 4500008004100000100001900041245010000060260003300160300003400193520119400227773003301421260612b           ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aBorocz, Jozsef  aWill the European union absorb its poorest eastern and South-Eastern neighbours, and what then?  aEconomic & Political Weekly   a61(20), May 16, 2026: p.51-60  aAs of early 2026, discussions on Ukraine’s prospective membership dominate international coverage of the European Union’s evolving borders. That is somewhat peculiar, given that the website of the European Commission lists1 as many as 10 countries as “candidates for membership.” With the exception of Türkiye—whose accession remains politically unlikely—the remaining candidates emerged from the disintegration of the former socialist bloc and exhibit substantially lower per capita incomes than any state previously admitted to the EU. The largest and poorest among them is war-torn Ukraine. This paper reviews the historical trajectory of the EU’s enlargements using data from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators. Drawing on conceptual tools from world systems analysis, it assesses the economic feasibility and political willingness of the EU to address the development challenges associated with further enlargement. The study also evaluates the likely forms of integration that may emerge between the EU and its current candidate countries.- Reproduced 

https://www.epw.in/journal/special-articles/will-european-union-absorb-its-poorest-eastern-and.html
  aEconomic & Political Weekly