EU Awareness Centre at Enlargement Days 2026

On 2–3 June 2026, Dr George Robakidze, Executive Director of the EU Awareness Centre, participated in Enlargement Days 2026, the flagship annual event of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on EU enlargement policy, held in Brussels.

Organised under the patronage of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, this year’s edition centred on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and its implications for the enlargement process. The event brought together local and regional authorities from EU member states and enlargement countries, alongside policymakers, civil society representatives, and technical experts.

The two-day programme brought together representatives from all EU candidate countries through dedicated Working Groups and Joint Consultative Committees: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Ukraine, Albania, North Macedonia, and Türkiye. Sessions were complemented by an interactive workshop and a plenary session on the second day.

Georgia, despite holding EU candidate status, was not represented at the event. This absence reflects the broader disengagement of the current Georgian authorities from the EU integration process — a trajectory that has attracted growing concern among European partners and Georgian civil society alike. In this context, the continuity of Georgia’s engagement with European institutions becomes increasingly dependent on non-governmental actors. The EU Awareness Centre’s participation in Enlargement Days 2026 was guided by precisely this conviction: that Georgia’s European perspective must remain present and active in the enlargement debate, regardless of the political orientations of the moment.