The Visegrad Group (V4), a unique subregional cooperation within the European Union, has experienced a negative shift following the Russian aggression in Ukraine. The Russian aggression in Ukraine also triggered another development in the EU. Enlargement has been halted since 2013 and has become the centre of attention again. The official candidate status was granted swiftly to Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, which also put the Western Balkans’ future in the spotlight. This article aims to interpret the four Visegrad states’ positions on the EU’s enlargement policy and alterations in these by looking for explanatory causes in the 2014–2025 period. Enlargement is of high relevance in the region, not only because of the V4 countries’ accession to the EU twenty years ago and of its complex, sometimes conflictual interactions with the EU institutions since then but also because the candidate countries are located in the immediate neighbourhood of the V4 region, that brings the geopolitical aspects of the policy in the spotlight. After conceptualizing the V4, process tracing methodology is applied to answer the question of the V4 states’ view and influence on the enlargement policy of the EU. This article aims not to determine the future perspectives of the European Union’s overall enlargement policy but to focus solely on the Visegrad countries. Still, the conclusions of this article can contribute to the general understanding of the debates on the future of enlargement.
