Probably the most important attempt to revamp the EU’s enlargement policy in the last decade has been the adoption of the New Methodology for Accession Negotiations in 2020, which has been ambitiously envisaged as a robust framework for accelerated integration of the Western Balkans, which will provide more clarity and a stronger political steer of the accession process.

Having in mind the main characteristics of “accelerated integration and phasing-in” as
defined in the official EU documents, the brief analyzes the mechanism both from a policy
and an institutional perspective.