Fifty years after the EU's first round of enlargement, this event explores the experiences of the EU’s first three accession countries - the UK, Ireland, and Denmark, who joined in 1973. After an opening statement by European Parliament Vice-President Michal Šimečka, three historians and political scientists will sketch out these countries’ expectations of membership, their accession narratives, and the realities of membership. Following this academic debate, MEP and former European Commissioner Danuta Hübner will connect the experience of the EU’s first enlargement with subsequent rounds of enlargement, especially the 2004-2007 'Eastern enlargement', and reflect on the prospects for and issues surrounding any future EU enlargement process.

EPRS online history and politics roundtable: 50 years of EU enlargement, from the past to the future