Enlargement is the most important foreign policy of the European Union (EU). President Alexander Stubb of Finland stated this in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the academic year of the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, on Monday.

"My vision is that in 30 years from now, the European Union will have roughly 40 member countries. That is 20% of the world’s nation states.

The membership structures will vary, as they do already today. Not everyone will have the Euro as their currency. But the group will be substantially larger than today.

Personally, I would like to see all of the Western Balkans, Ukraine, and Moldova in. I would naturally like to see Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK in. Canada will be at least an associate member.

And for other countries such as Türkiye, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, it will depend on how they develop," the Finnish president added, in particular.