EU Enlargement: 'I see more benefits than risks', Bulgarian Deputy PM Gabriel says

Almost twenty years after the big bang of the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, the European Union's ambition to accept new members, long on hold, has been revived in a striking way. Beyond the moral and geopolitical arguments for EU expansion eastwards, is there a commercial argument to be made, particularly to EU voters concerned about jobs and inflation , but also companies worried about the stagnation of productivity in the EU?

We talk about this at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, with Milojko Spajić , Prime Minister of Montenegro, Rostyslav Shurma , Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mariya Gabriel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and former European Commissioner and Christian Levin , President and CEO of Scania (Sweden), member of the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders .

Watch our entire debate in the video player above.

During our discussion, former European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel believes that it is not "because of Russia" that we are again talking about the Western Balkans joining the EU. She recalls the importance of the EU-Western Balkans summit in 2018 and its results, then " the digital agenda, the innovation program, the new growth plan that we have today" , highlighting the "huge investments" carried out by the EU.

The current Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria also emphasizes that "enlargement always shows that we have this pool of qualified young people who, thus, will not leave their region and they will really be there to co-create, to shape the solutions of the 'future."

She also sees in this process where “the benefits far outweigh the risks” according to her, a means of expanding the market, but also a shield