In an earlier essay in this series, Ronald Asmus argued that the consensus and strategic paradigm that has guided the enlargement of NATO and the EU to Central and Eastern Europe since the mid 1990s has crumbled and no longer fits today’s strategic circumstances. He says that absent a new narrative for further enlargement and a revised strategy for accomplishing it, the historic window for extending core Western institutions to new democracies as part of building a Europe that is unified, free, and at peace is likely to close. Iris Kempe takes issue with that view and argues that it is too pessimistic. She contends that key elements of that narrative already exist, that important institutional building blocks for further enlargement led by the European Union are being put into place and that a new narrative can and should be framed around the theme of "Completing Europe."