In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the EU can no longer afford being held back by disagreements between Central and Western member states. At this crucial moment, Carnegie Europe will host a public discussion to explore solutions for how to bridge the EU’s East-West divide.

Germany, the European Union's most powerful and largest member state, will take over the bloc's six-month presidency. But with a pandemic, an economic recession, and 27 member states to contend with, can German Chancellor Angela Merkel turn around the fortunes of a fractured union

Fifteen years after the 2004 enlargement, the EU still behaves as two halves rather than a whole. The real source of tensions is unfamiliarity with the nature of East-West differences rather than the differences themselves.