European Union Development - Essay Example

The biggest enlargement to the EU occurred in 2004 when 10 new member states from Central and Eastern Europe were accepted into the European Union. Between 1994 and 2003 the overall labor productivity of the EU was larger than the U.S. or Japan.As the EU union grew many Europeans were threatened by the thought of unifying 25 European nations. An important pillar in the integration process is the free movement of resources. Organizations such as Confederation of British Industry, Confederations of Danish Employees, and the Swedish Employees Federation were in favour of free movement of labour.

The factors that have driven people from the old EU member states include the state of the home economy, social structure, political system, labour market composition, the availability of education and training opportunities, and standard of living. Favorable income differential is one of the reasons many Europeans immigrated into the EU-15 member nations.In most EU states the feared negative impacts of emigrant labour on the local labour markets has been minimal due to the transitional rules.