What impact will enlargement have on the prospects for further integration of the EU?

Sciences politiques | 3 pages | 05-03-2006 | Format : | Note : Non noté

PRIX : 3.60€ |

Résumé

On 1 May 2004, ten new members will join the European Union: Cyprus, The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia. The decision to let them in was made by the European Council in December 2002, after negotiations which had started in 1998 and 2000. “A moral and strategic imperative” , this is how the German political elite deems this enlargement eastwards. However, there was some concern – in France not least – about the fact that enlargement would jeopardize the prospects for further enlargement. Some feared that the EU would turn into an area of free trade, ending the – French – dream of a superpower Europe. But one should not underestimate the significance of enlargement, only fifteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: the democratic form of government will be enshrined in the treaties (or in the Constitution) for the ten newcomers. Nevertheless, recent events like the row over Iraq or the bargaining at the current IGC raise questions. Will the institutions of the UE, which was originally conceived as a small club of six, resist enlargement? Will further integration be still possible in a Europe of twenty-five?

In order to assess the prospects for further integration after the enlargement, this essay will focus on three points. It will consider the readiness of incoming members for further integration, then examine the capacity of the European institutions to resist enlargement and wonder if the future Constitution will change anything. Eventually, it will ask if the process of enlargement itself will push towards further integration ...

Recommandations

Du même auteur

Nouveautés dans la rubrique Sciences politiques

Les plus visités dans la matière Sciences politiques