This IAI Brief examines how the EU can maintain the transformative power of enlargement by strategically sequencing gradual integration with a credible accession perspective. Author Matteo Bonomi argues that while accelerated integration tools, such as the Ukraine Facility and the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans, are essential for resilience and political anchoring, they must remain clearly oriented toward full membership to sustain reform momentum. In Ukraine, gradual integration supports state stability amid war, with long-term security depending on NATO and bilateral guarantees. In the Western Balkans, credible EU membership remains the primary driver of political reform and rule-of-law transformation, a dynamic that technical integration alone cannot replicate. The brief calls for a strategic recalibration of enlargement: using integration to strengthen resilience where needed, while preserving a clear and achievable accession pathway, with membership itself remaining the engine of change.