RESILIO-ACCESS: Resilience Observatory on the Rule of Law in EU Accession Candidates

How resilient is the rule of law in the EU enlargement countries? RESILIO-ACCESS uses an interdisciplinary approach to answer this question and identifies how EU enlargement policy can contribute to resilient democratic structures in the region.

Since 2022, the EU has responded to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine with an increased focus on its enlargement policy. Nine countries are to become EU members in the long term: the six countries of the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia – as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia. In addition, negotiations with Turkey have been at a standstill for years.

At the same time, the hurdles for the candidate countries to join the EU are high, particularly with regard to stable democratic structures and the rule of law. In addition, growing authoritarianism in countries such as Serbia or Georgia show that there can also be significant democratic setbacks during the accession process.

How resilient is the rule of law in the accession countries? And how can EU enlargement policy contribute to the resilience of the rule of law?

IEP investigates these questions from January 2025 to the end of 2026 in the project RESILIO-ACCESS: Resilience Observatory on the Rule of Law in EU Accession Candidates in cooperation with the Institute for Democracy Societas Civilis – Skopje (IDSCS).

RESILIO-ACCESS is based on three pillars. First, the theoretical model of rule of law resilience developed in the predecessor project “RESILIO” will be further developed and applied to the individual accession countries, thus creating a resilience index.

Second, IEP and IDSCS analyze how EU enlargement policy can contribute to stable democratic structures and the rule of law in the region. Particular attention is paid to Turkey as a case study of autocratisation during the ongoing accession negotiations.

Third, the project takes into account the fundamental contribution of an active, democratic civil society to the resilience of the rule of law. RESILIO-ACCESS therefore builds a Europe-wide community of researchers and activists and organizes trainings and workshops in the enlargement countries to support civil society actors during the accession process.

RESILIO-ACCESS is funded by Stiftung Mercator.