Politics of the European Union

Résumé du document

Since its foundation in the late 1950's, the European Union has seen its membership growing from 6 to 27 countries in 2007, with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. The process might not stop at this point, as other countries such as West Balkans, Turkey, and eastern countries (former parts of the USSR) are also expecting to join the EU as soon as possible. Six rounds of enlargements have been experienced since the foundation of the EU. While each enlargement has raised its own kind of questions and difficulties, both for the applying members and the existing members, the last two rounds, which allowed 10 Central and Eastern European Countries to join the EU plus Malta and South Cyprus, created a situation in which both elites and the population of the EU start to believe that the enlargement process should have an end. Otherwise, the idea of a well integrated European Union supported by its people would be seriously compromised. The rejection of the Treaty on the European Union by French and Dutch people in 2004, the fact that member states elites avoid referendum on enlargement and the general "democratic deficit" increasingly felt towards the EU is a clear indication that the European Union needs now to take stock of its past policies before moving forward.

Extraits

[...] Ian Barnes and Paul Barnes, p 434. Natalia Timus, p 344. [...]

[...] The fact that relocations occur in the European Union rather than in Asia should be a better prospect, as we share the same “single market”. Relocation is also supposed to increase profits, then investments and then employment. The enlargement also helps previous member states companies reaching new consumers more easily[33]. Another point often raised by supporters of enlargement in previous member states is that the migration of workers from the East to the West could help our societies to finance pensions[34], but one should not forget that countries such as Germany or France are already far away from full employment. [...]

[...] Otherwise, the idea of a well integrated European Union supported by its people would be seriously compromised. The rejection of the Treaty on the European Union by French and Dutch people in 2004, the fact that member states elites avoid referenda on enlargement and the general “democratic deficit” increasingly felt towards the EU is a clear indication that the European Union needs now to take stock of its past policies before moving forward. The process of enlargement was on the political agenda when the organization was founded and aim has been to extend prosperity, peace, and democracy across the European land mass”[1]. [...]

[...] Politically, they have managed to stabilize and improved their institutions, their judicial systems and their police. Of course, a lot is still to be done in order to reduce the gap with previous member, but they might also probably reach a peek. Countries such as Portugal and Greece have still a long way to go decades after their adhesion, especially in terms of GDP per capita, in order to compete with older members. Moreover the European Union, by agreeing to these adhesions, has also implemented different types of discriminatory tools in order to protect previous members' interests and the EU stability. [...]

[...] The constructivist idea “that EU enlargement is value or identity driven, aimed at promoting democracy and stability beyond EU borders through the sharing of EU norms and values”[29], was clearly the main motive in the beginning of the 1990's towards the prospect of these Eastern enlargements. Elites of previous members have begun, in the beginning of the 1990's, a process from which public opinion has been left away until the last steps of accession. According to some economists, this enlargement will also benefit the previous members in a longer future. However, the immediate costs are obvious and difficult to understand for a broad part of their population. [...]