The Template for Staged Accession to the EU was first published in the autumn of 2021, against the backdrop of the European Commission’s announcement of the Revised Enlargement Methodology (REM) and the persistently stagnating EU accession process of the Western Balkan (WB) countries. It proposed a four-stage process, with each stage offering more benefits for candidate countries as a reward for increased levels of membership preparedness. The overall aim was to create a more predictable and incentivizing accession process while reinforcing the merit-based approach to EU enlargement and ensuring full membership as the ultimate outcome.