This study illuminates how the Russian full-scale invasion functions as a critical juncture and affects pre-existing Dutch views on Western Balkans enlargement. This done through a content analysis of notions framed in four manifestos and ten parliamentary debates. Public opinion polls and studies give insight in the Dutch public opinion. Dutch political parties have become more ‘soft’ eurosceptic in tone mainly through their contribution in the politicization of the enlargement process. The ‘geopolitical argument’ sparks parliamentary debates on EU enlargement, however for the public the topic of enlargement is marked with ambiguity. By all Dutch accounts it is not a salient issue. Western Balkans in specific are distant and only intermittently part of a broader discourse. Public opinion is uninformed and thus susceptible to fluctuate. Nonetheless, the Dutch largely support accession when all criteria are met. Before that, further and more politicization of the accession process is expected. Eurosceptics by acccentuating the ‘strict’ aspect and hence the credibility of the process compete with the europeanists by innovatively shifting the discursive foci toward post-postfunctionalism.
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