The Challenges Of EU Enlargement

The greatest success of Europe s external policy has been EU enlargement. This promoted and consolidated regime change without the use of weapons, thereby stabilizing the European continent.

The EU can continue muddle along with its one size fits all policy of enlargement lite in the region. Or it can work harder to turn balancers into joiners.

Politicizing EU Competition Policy

Europe is a peculiar combination of geography and history, but the boundaries of the EU and thus the prospects for its further enlargement are determined by its absorptive capacity and the adaptive abilities of candidate countries. Is enlargement the only effective policy of stabilization and peace?

The 2004 European Union (EU) enlargement stimulated useful exchanges of information but full harmonization was considered difficult.

Rather, the process remains open and indeterminate. EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Štefan Füle insists that enlargement is progressing, but the western Balkans remains a fragile region, defined by mutually antagonistic nationalisms, incomplete state formation, deep and pervasive patterns of corruption, and endemic economic mismanagement.

Before enlargement, it was politically incorrect to discuss possible waves of migration to the West, as EU politicians saw this as an obstacle to the enlargement process. Now that enlargement has taken place, it is easier to discuss migration objectively.

Ten countries joined the fifth enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004, having fulfilled the Copenhagen Criteria that contribute to institutionalizing EU standards for governance and public administration.

Olli Rehn, EU Enlargement Commissioner, has stated that if Serbia and Montenegro continue to fail to hand over Karadžić and Mladić, those talks could be suspended.

EU Competition Policy and the Consumer (pamphlet). europa.eu.int comm competition publications competition_policy_and_the_citizen

Italy apos s general climate policy seeks to meet its part of the EU wide commitment through burden sharing with other EU members.

Yet, this symbol has not made the EU or the euro area any more popular. Support for EU membership within the pre enlargement EU 15 remains where it was in the mid 1990 s (and below the peak reached in 1990), while support for the euro is no higher now than it was in 1997.

As the latest round of enlargement proves, the EU is very effective at molding the governance and behavior of would be members. Preparations for EU entry strongly motivated the eight former communist Central European states to entrench or restore democratic institutions and market economies.

The defeat of the EU s Constitutional Treaty in referendums in France and the Netherlands has, it seems, given rise to a new consensus that further enlargement of the Union should be slowed down, or even stopped. Advocates of this position see EU voters as terrified by the consequences of the May 2004 enlargement of the EU, when eight formerly communist states joined, and angry that they were not consulted about it.

As the EU celebrates the accession of Croatia which will undoubtedly provide a short term boost to the reform process throughout the western Balkans it faces a profound choice in its engagement with the region. It can reinvigorate the spirit of earlier enlargement rounds, or it can succumb to enlargement fatigue.

Indeed, the euro has quickly become a symbol of European unity. When asked, What does the EU mean to you personally, 50 of citizens in the 15 countries that were EU members before enlargement in May 2004 say the euro the second most common response (just behind the ability to travel, study, and work anywhere in the EU ).

Problems of Security Council enlargement

putting a stop to Moscow s divide and conquer politics by adopting a common EU energy  policy

putting a stop to Moscow s divide and conquer politics by adopting a common EU energy policy

With the EU 15 comprising around 80 of all EU GHG emissions, these countries should be the ones taking a leading role in EU climate change policy. It is past time that they step up their efforts.

Enlargement fatigue entered the European political lexicon in the wake of the dramatic failures of the French and Dutch referenda on the EU Constitutional Treaty in 2005. The seismic shock of the treaty s rejection by two original EU members cried out for a scapegoat, and the big bang enlargement completed the previous year in which eight post communist countries (along with Cyprus and Malta) joined simultaneously seemed a good place to put the blame.

Resource and Technology for Development, Policy Priorities in ACP Countries A Case for Uganda . EU ACP, 2001

The United States had been pressing the EU to advance Turkey s application for admission, but Turkish membership was already controversial in several EU countries. This reflects concerns about Turkey s Muslim culture and its large population, as well as concern that any further enlargement will overly dilute the European project.

EU enlargement brought greater prosperity, with living standards improving throughout the Union, particularly in the new member states. But many of the older member states also benefitted, and not only in economically measureable ways.

(b) Uptake of the unique opportunities of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and rapidly emerging EU biofuel markets

At the same time, we organized the Athens Forum on Gender, Peace and Foreign Policy The EU Perspective .

Croatia s accession to the EU on July 1 provides a welcome boost to a region that has been placed on the back burner as a result of enlargement fatigue and the EU s crisis induced introspection. Enlargement advocates also point to the deal signed by Kosovo and Serbia in April as another key development in unlocking the Balkans European future.

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Today, the situation has changed in three important respects. EU farm policy has started to be reformed, and its share of the EU budget has fallen from over 60 to 40

(iv) 2002 2003 Director of the EU Policy and Legal Advice Centre in Belgrade (tasked by the European Commission with assisting Serbia and Montenegro with the EU accession strategy, see www.plac.yu.org).

The EU urgently needs to democratize its procedures and reorganize its institutions to ensure that this year's enlargement does not lead to bureaucratic deadlock. The draft Constitution provides acceptable answers to many questions of governance.

EU also permits exceptions to the free movement principle for reasons of public policy, public health and public security.

The EU also noted the conclusion that all integrated programmes should include a policy advice and competitiveness analysis component.

Specific EU actions to fight poverty, enhance coherence between trade and political cooperation and develop the common agricultural policy

Legislation and control have been set up within this framework as a result of the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

They were admitted to the EU only fifteen years after the fall of communism, and not all of them had previous experience with democracy. Unlike EU members admitted during earlier rounds of enlargement, the Central Europeans suffer from widespread corruption, political nepotism, fragile political parties with unclear identities, and weak civil societies.

In foreign and security policy, New Power, New Responsibility proposes strengthening the role of the EU High Representative and the role of the European Action Service. Current EU High Representative Catherine Ashton continues to prove the worth of EU foreign policy institutions by, for example, brokering a remarkable peace between Serbia and Kosovo and playing a key role in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Switzerland strongly favours enlargement of the Security Council.

Enlargement of the membership of the Executive Committee

Enlargement of the Committee on Non Governmental Organizations

In addition, the EU stressed the interest it attached to the peer review approach adopted in the Investment Policy Reviews.

In addition, the EU stressed the interest it attached to the peer review approach adopted in the Investment Policy Reviews.

But that might not be enough in an EU with more than 500 million citizens. Other EU states need to follow their example in order to make European foreign policy truly effective and influential.

To be sure, Ukraine has a strong partner in the EU particularly if its government responds effectively to voters call for improved governance. But, whatever Ukraine achieves, it cannot overcome Europeans fears of further integration, much less enlargement.