How Has the Constant Process of Enlargement Impacted the EU Politics - Essay Example

? To what extent, and in what ways, has the constant process of enlargement, impacted on the EU politics and policy process? The creation of the European Union, in 1957, was considered as the most effective way for the Union to improve its position in the global market and to increase its power in critical global issues – for instance, the management of energy sources or the environment. The increase of the number of member states, through a series of enlargement processes, gave to the Union the power required in order to intervene drastically in conflicts and negotiations developed in the international community. However, the effective completion of these enlargements required the introduction of differentiations in the Union’s politics and policy processes. The above issue is discussed in this paper; emphasis is given on the value of enlargement as a tool for strengthening the political and economic position of EU; the impact of enlargement on various EU politics and processes is also examined taking into consideration the fact that enlargement is a demanding process requiring a long period of preparation and being related to certain risks – especially because of the different political, social and economic patterns of European countries. It is proved that the enlargement processes developed in the European Union up today have all affected, more or less, the EU politics and processes; however, among them, it is the fifth enlargement process which most influenced EU politics and policies. For the above reason, the fifth enlargement, which developed in two phases, in 2004 and 2007, is extensively discussed in this paper using the literature published in the particular field. When the European Union was first established – initially, as a European Community – in 1957 (Treaty of Rome), no term was set regarding the development of a Community regional policy (Bache 31). The reference to economic activities, which would be initiated by the entire member states –jointly – could be possibly, regarded as such policy, even not clearly. Through the decades, it was made clear that the achievement of the targets of the Union would be a challenging task. For this reason, the need for its expansion was through to be unavoidable – a practice which was proved particularly helpful towards the development and the strengthening of European Union so that to become a major force in the global market. In its initial form, the European Union had 6 states – today, its members are estimated to 27, as a result of 5 enlargements. The specific processes have been used in order to increase the power of EU within the international community but also in order to promote integration across the European Union. Among these enlargements the one which is most important is the fifth one developed into two phases: the first phase took place in 2004 and the second in 2007. Through the fifth enlargement – a process that has been characterized as the most important strategic decision of the EU in the 21st century (Europa, Enlargement 2011) – the European Union was significantly expanded acquiring 12 new members (Europa, Enlargement 2011). The criteria and the terms of enlargement – as one of the European Union’s key processes – are included in the ‘article 49 of the Treaty of the European Union’ (Europa, Enlargement 2011). In accordance with the above article, the key priority of the enlargement process is to ensure that the applicant countries are adequately prepared so that to meet their obligations – as stated by the relevant EU rules; of course, the legislative, political and social characteristics of each candidate country are taken into consideration when these processes are developed. However, in any case, it needs to be ensured that the candidate countries will be able to respond to their obligations – as members of the Union – and to align their policies/ rules with those of the Union (Europa, Enlargement 2011). At this point, it would be necessary to refer briefly to the history of enlargements in EU; then their implications for the EU politics and policies could be easier explored. Initially, in 1957 the European Union – then, European Community – was consisted from 6 countries: ‘Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands’ (European Union 2010). In 1973 the Community was increased by 3 members - through the entrance of the United Kingdom, the Ireland and the Denmark (European Union 2010). In 1981 Greece joined the European Community, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986 (European Union 2010). The next enlargement took place in 1995 when Sweden, Austria and Finland entered the European Community (European Union 2010). The most important enlargement of the European Union has been the fifth one which was developed in two phases: in the first phase, in 2004, the following countries joined the EU: ‘Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia and Slovak Republic’ (European Union 2010). In 2007, the second phase of the fifth enlargement took place, with the entrance in the Union of Bulgaria and Romania (European Union 2010). As already explained above, among the enlargements developed in European Union, those, which have the most importance, are the ones developed in 2004 and 2007 – in fact, this is just one enlargement process divided into two parts – or wavers, as noted in a relevant report of the European Union (Europa, Enlargement 2011). The importance of these processes can be identified at the following points: through the above two processes the members of the euro zone were increased – reaching today the 16 states – from the 27 total members of European Union (Keereman and Szekely 221). Another key benefit of the above two enlargements has been the expansion of the Schengen area – which now includes ‘25 European countries’ (Keereman and Szekely 221). Of course, the enlargements of 2004 and 2007 led also to the expansion of the Single Market (Keereman and Szekely 221), which is a common consequence for all such processes. In other words, the enlargements of 2004 and 2007 led to the strengthening of euro as a key currency in the global market – meaning that the specific currency is backed by a significant number of states, a fact that limits the risks for failures in the economies of member states – even if in practice, such risk has not been effectively controlled, as revealed through the inability of many member states to respond to the needs and the requirements of the euro zone. It should be noted that the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 have been already benefited by their participation in the single market (Keereman and Szekely 221), even if the relevant period of time is rather limited – compared to the other states. It should be also mentioned that the full integration of these countries in the EU is still in progress – reference is made especially to the’ labor market integration’ (Keereman and Szekely 221), as a characteristic of the EU membership. Moreover, the countries that joined the EU in 2007 – i.e. Bulgaria and Romania – are expected to achieve an important ‘rate of GDP growth (about 0.5%) up to 2020’ (Keereman and Szekely 221), which is quite high compared to the expected rate of GDP growth of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 – as described above. In practice, this means either that the preparation made for the 2007 enlargement was more effective, leading to increased benefits for the participating countries or either that the failures of the past enlargements have been valuable for avoiding same mistakes when aligning the national rules and practices with the EU policies. Apart from the increase of power of the Single Market and the strengthening of euro, the fifth enlargement – as developed in two phases in 2004 and 2007 – had another important consequence: the increase of support towards the European Environment Agency (EEA), an organization established in order to ensure the development of joint activities by the member states regarding the protection of the environment – and the promotion of sustainability in all human activities across the Union. Because through the first phase of the fifth enlargement – in 2004 – the European Union was significantly increased – as a result of the entrance of 10 new members, an agreement had to take place in order to secure the integration of EEA; indeed, in 2004 an Enlargement Agreement of EEA was signed; the specific agreement was set under discussion among the ‘Union, the EEA members and the new EU members’ (Tatham 175). The simultaneous enlargement of EU and the EEA was achieved while the contribution of each state in the development of the projects of EEA was clearly defined (Tatham 175). In 2007 another such EEA enlargement agreement was signed between the Union, Bulgaria and Romania; in this way, the fifth enlargement of the European Union helped to the achievement of a series of targets, including the increase of the Union’s integration, the improvement of its position in the global community – as a union of many states, the increase of the Union’s power to intervene in environmental issues and the strengthening of the Union’s currency in the global marketplace. In accordance with Ferthold (102) through the enlargement processes – as developed since the Union’s establishment – the European Union managed to increase its population at extremely high levels; it is noted that the fifth enlargement - in 2004 and 2007 – resulted to ‘the increase of the Union’s population by 75 million people’ (Ferthold 102). However, the most important benefit of the enlargement processes seems to be the strengthening of the Union’s financial position – in the context that the capital of member states is considered as capital of the Union, a rule particularly important in the case of the euro zone where the support of the common currency by all the zone’s states ensures the limitation of exchange turbulences – despite the problems that still exist in the economies of member states. In the study of Ferthold it is explained that the current domestic product of the EU – after the last enlargement – can be estimated to ‘over ten billion Euros’ (Ferthold 102), a figure which is encouraging taking into consideration the severe threats and challenges that currencies used in global commerce have to face. Taking into consideration the extreme competition of the global market, the leaders in the EU had decided in 2000 to take a series of measures in order to ensure that the Union will significantly increase its competitiveness in the international community. It is in the context probably that the fifth enlargement – in 2004 and 2007 – was decided; from this point of view, the above enlargement had a critical mission: to lead to the increase of the Union’s competitiveness and stability in the global market, a target which has been partially achieved. At the next level, the European politics and policies had to be appropriately transformed serving more effectively the needs of the Union’s new members and ensuring that the integration of the Union will not be threatened. The rules incorporated in the Lisbon Treaty of 2007 respond to the above needs. Emphasis is given on the management of knowledge, the increase of productivity, the harmonization of policies across the member states, the limitation of bureaucracy, i.e. of the time required for the development of critical strategic decisions, such as important investment plans or projects for the management of various crises. One of the most important criteria in order to evaluate the impact of the enlargement processes on EU politics and policies, is the ability of the EU to develop such initiatives without its mission or aims to be alternated, meaning the completion of the processes without the integration of the EU to be set under severe risk. In accordance with Neubauer the European Union ‘was first established as an economic cooperation of six countries’ (Neubauer 2); gradually, the Union was transformed to a complex framework of social, economic and political rules, partially independent and, often, different from the relevant rules of its members. In this context, the enlargement processes attempted by the leaders of the EU could be considered as a risky initiative; this fact is made clearer in the case of the 2004 enlargement where ‘8 East-European countries and 2 islands (Cyprus and Malta), became member states’ (Neubauer 2). The cultural, political and economic differences among those countries and the members of the Unions were significant leading to the, initial, assumption that the specific project had increased chances to fail. Having escaped just recently from communism, the countries of Eastern Europe which showed interest in joining the EU, had to face the following challenge: they had to meet all the requirements of a complex convergence process, even if they had no experience on such activities. Facing this barrier was a major challenge for these countries, which considered the entrance in the Union as a chance to restructure their political, social and economic ethics – which were strongly affected by the principles of communism. From this point of view, the enlargement of 2004 has been a major challenge not only for these countries but also for EU, which was asked to support the above efforts even with no primary indications on the potentials for success of such initiatives – i.e. with unknown risk. Another important implication of the fifth enlargement was related to the financial condition of the 8 Eastern European countries that entered the EU; these countries have faced a long term period of severe financial turbulences. The governance of these countries using the rules of communism had resulted to ‘extremely high national debts, instable currencies and high unemployment rates’ (Neubauer 4); reference can be made for example to the case of Poland where the transition to socialism had led to the economy’s further deterioration, as reflected in ‘the increase of unemployment rate to 18% in 2003’ (Neubauer 4). In other cases, the efforts, which had made in the past for the strengthening of the economy, had failed – due to the lack of adequate funding for the development of various governmental projects; an indicative example is the Czech Republic where ‘the effort in 1990 to increase the power of the local economy had caused a severe financial crisis’ (Neubauer 4). It is clear that policyholders in the EU had to resolve a series of important issues before proceeding with the enlargement process of 2004. In 2007, similar issues had to be faced, even if at lower level – referring to the 2nd phase of the fifth enlargement, i.e. the entrance of Romania and Bulgaria in the EU. From another point of view, Loschen (13) noted that the most important risk related to the enlargements of EU has been the development of severe turbulences in its labor market – as these turbulences can also affect the economies of the member states. This issue has been particularly emerged after the enlargement of 2004 when 8 Eastern European countries entered the EU. Waves of people were expected to travel to the West European countries – those members of the Union – aiming to enter a well developed labor market (Loschen 13). Indeed, such risk was severe; however, finally the level of workers traveled in the West European countries – members of the Union – was lower from that expected (Loschen 13). In any case, the freedom of movement, as protected by the European Union, states that the free movement of persons across member states cannot be prohibited (article 45 of the Treaty of the European Union). The establishment of jobs markets that will respect the above principle but which will also have the power to respond to the needs of the candidates has been a major challenge for policy makers in the EU (Van Elsuwege 218). This challenge was appropriately faced through the introduction in the Treaty of Lisbon of rules securing the equal opportunities in the job market for the citizens of all member states. On the other hand, the enlargement processes of the EU had to face the following issue: the awareness of European citizens on EU politics has been limited – referring even to the citizens of those countries that are part of the European Union for many years. Indeed, in accordance with Jorgensen, Pollack and Rosamond, the promotion of the European politics across the member states is characterized by the following: a) the only way for the citizens of the member states to get informed on the EU projects and politics is through the national media; however, national media avoid to make extensive reference to EU politics, using the comparison between the European and the national politics, when they need to present the politics of the Union in regard to a particular issue (Jorgensen, Pollack and Rosamond 489), b) on the other hand, when the national media refer to the EU politics, they are likely to use ‘similar interpretive frames across national public spheres’ (Jorgensen, Pollack and Rosamond 489). Despite the efforts made by national media – referring to the media of member states – in order for the integration within the EU to be achieved, there are still gaps in ‘the Europeanization of the national public spheres of member states’ (Jorgensen, Pollack and Rosamond 489), a target which needs to be achieved so that the integration of the EU to be considered as secured. Through the examination of the content and the structure of the fifth enlargement – in 2004 and 2007 – it is made clear that its impact on EU politics and policies has been critical. The various forms of this impact have been presented and evaluated in this paper. However, the exact forms of this influence are not always visible but they are rather reflected in the mechanisms and the rules developed by the EU for resolving various issues; for instance, the case of the crisis management mechanism developed by the European Union in the context of the Lisbon Treaty of 2007 – when the fifth enlargement process was already completed. The Lisbon Treaty of 2007 itself, can be characterized as a result of the efforts made for the increase of integration across the European Union, as this integration had been strongly supported through the completion of the fifth enlargement process in 2007. From another point of view, the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty of 2007 can lead to the assumption that the existing EU rules are not adequate for covering the various needs of EU members or secure the integration of the EU (Olsson 22). In this context, it could be noted that the enlargement processes developed by the European Union had to be supported by an appropriately customized legislative text – regulating all these enlargement issues. In other words, the enlargements attempted in the European Union – especially the last one of 2007 – have affected the European politics and policies at such level that the integration of the EU was severely threatened; the introduction of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007 can be characterized as an effort for eliminating this threat, even if the above target has not been fully achieved, as proved through the numerous barriers set up to the entrance of the Treaty into force in December 2009. Works Cited Bache, Ian. The politics of European Union regional policy: multi-level governance or flexible gatekeeping? Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, 1998. Europa. 2011. Enlargement. 26 May 2011. . European Union. 2010. Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. 26 May 2011. . Ferthold, Karl. Economics and politics of Europe. New York: Nova Publishers, 2008. Jorgensen, Knud, Pollack, Mark and Ben Rosamond. Handbook of European Union politics. London: SAGE, 2006. Keereman, Filip, Szekely, Istvan. Five Years of an Enlarged EU: A Positive Sum Game. London: Springer, 2010. Lord Julian Grenfell. The Further Enlargement of the EU: Threat Or Opportunity?; Report with Evidence; 53rd Report of Session 2005-06. London: The Stationery Office, 2006. Loschen, Christian. The Willingness and Tiredness of Enlarging the EU of the EU27. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag, 2008. Neubauer, Lukas. The Easter Enlargement of the European Union - a Successful Story?: An Analysis from the Economic and Political Point of View. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag, 2010. Olsson, Stefan. Crisis Management in the European Union: Cooperation in the Face of Emergencies. London: Springer, 2009. Tatham, Allan. Enlargement of the European Union. Frederick, MD: Kluwer Law International, 2009. Van Elsuwege, Peter. From Soviet republics to EU member states: a legal and political assessment of the Baltic states' accession to the EU. Leiden: BRILL, 2008. Read More