EU enlargement: history, stages and consequences

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

EU enlargement is an unfinished process of enlargement of the European Union, which occurs due to the entry of new states into it. This process started with six countries. These states founded the so-called European Coal and Steel Community back in 1952, which actually became the predecessor of the EU. Currently, 28 states have joined the Union. Negotiations on the entry into the EU of new members are ongoing. This process is also called European integration.

Conditions

At present, EU enlargement is accompanied by a number of formalities that countries wishing to join this Union must comply with. At all stages, the process is controlled by the European Commission.

Virtually any European country can join the European Union. The final decision on this issue is made by the Council of the EU after consultations with the European Parliament and the Commission. Forin order to get approval of the application, it is necessary that the country be a European state in which the principles of democracy, freedom, human rights are respected, there is the rule of law.

The condition for obtaining membership is strict compliance with the following criteria:

• compliance with the Copenhagen criteria approved in 1993;
• stability of government and public institutions that guarantee the rule of law and law, democracy, human rights, protection and respect for minorities;
• having a functioning market economy that can cope with competitive pressures as well as market prices within the Union;
• the ability to assume the obligations of membership, which include commitment to the key economic, political and monetary goals of the Union itself.

Process

The EU enlargement process is long enough for most countries. Before submitting a formal application, the state must sign an agreement of intent to join the EU. After that, his preparation for the status of a candidate begins with the prospects of further entry into the Union.

Many countries cannot meet the criteria to even start negotiations. Therefore, many years pass before preparations for the process itself start. The Associate Membership Agreement concluded helps to start preparations for the very first stage.

First, a country formally requests membership from the European Union. AfterIn doing so, the Council requests the Commission's opinion as to whether the State is ready to begin negotiations. The Council has the right to accept or reject the opinion of the Commission, but in practice the contradiction between them occurred only once (when the Commission did not advise starting negotiations over Greece).

When negotiations open, everything starts with verification. It is a process during which the EU and the candidate state evaluate and compare domestic and Union laws, identifying significant differences. When all the nuances are resolved, the Council recommends that the negotiations themselves begin, if there is a sufficient number of points of contact. In essence, the negotiation consists of the candidate country trying to convince the Union that its administration and laws are developed enough to comply with European law.

History

The organization that became the prototype of the EU was called the "European Coal and Steel Community". It was founded in 1950 by Robert Schumann. Thus, the steel and coal industrialists of West Germany and France managed to unite. The Benelux countries and Italy also joined the project. They signed the so-called Treaty of Paris in 1952.

They have since become known as the "Inner Six". This was done in opposition to the "Outer Seven", which united in the European Free Trade Association. It included Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria and Portugal. In 1957, an agreement was signed in Rome,from which the unification of these two societies began after the merger of their leadership.

It is worth noting that the community that stood at the origins of the EU has lost a lot of territory due to the process of decolonization. For example, in 1962, Algeria gained independence, which had previously been an integral part of France.

Throughout the 1960s, expanding the number of participants was practically not discussed. Everything got off the ground after the UK changed its policy. It is believed that this was due to the Suez Crisis. In the EU, along with it, applications were submitted by several countries at once: Ireland, Denmark and Norway. But then the expansion never happened. New members are accepted only with the unanimous consent of all members of the Union. And the French President Charles de Gaulle vetoed it, fearing the "American influence" of Great Britain.

De Gaulle's departure

De Gaulle's departure from the post of leader of France led to the fact that the policy of EU enlargement began to be implemented. Denmark, Ireland and Norway, together with the UK, resubmitted applications, receiving immediate pre-approval. However, in Norway, in a referendum, the government did not receive popular support on the issue of joining the Union, so its accession did not take place. This was the first enlargement of the EU.

The next in line were Spain, Greece and Portugal, in which in the 70s they managed to restore democratic regimes, which was one of the key moments when joining the Union. Greece received admission to the community in 1981, two states from the Iberian Peninsula - in 1986. It wasone of the first waves of EU enlargement.

In 1987, non-European powers began to apply for membership. In particular, this was done by Turkey and Morocco. If Morocco was refused almost immediately, the process of Turkey's accession to the EU is still ongoing. In 2000, the country received the status of a candidate, four years later official negotiations began, which have not yet been completed.

The End of the Cold War

An important event for the entire world geopolitics was the end of the Cold War, the confrontation between the USSR and the USA officially ended by 1990. The formal symbol of the end of the Cold War was the reunification of East and West Germany.

Since 1993, the European Community has become officially known as the European Union. This provision was contained in the Maastricht Treaty.

Moreover, some states that bordered the Eastern Bloc applied for EU membership without even waiting for the end of the Cold War.

The next stage

The further history of the EU expansion was as follows: in 1995, Finland, Sweden and Austria were admitted to the Union. Norway again made an attempt to join the EU, but the second popular referendum also failed. This has become the fourth stage of EU enlargement.

With the end of the Cold War and the so-called "Westernization" of the Eastern bloc, the EU had to define and agree on new standards for its future members, by which one could objectively assess their compliance with European values. In particular, based onIt was decided to make the Copenhagen criteria the main criteria of the requirement that the country should have democracy, a free market, as well as the consent of the people obtained in a referendum.

To the East

The most massive stage of EU enlargement happened on May 1, 2004. Then it was decided to join the Union at once 10 states. These were Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, M alta and Cyprus. In terms of territorial and human indicators, this was the largest expansion. At the same time, in terms of gross domestic product, it became the smallest.

Practically all of these countries were significantly less developed than the rest of the EU, primarily in economic terms. This caused serious concern among the governments of the old-timer states and the population. As a result, decisions were made to impose certain restrictions on employment and for crossing borders by citizens of the new member countries.

The expected migration that has begun has led to political clichés. For example, the concept of "Polish plumber" has become popular. At the same time, after a few years, the benefits of migrants for the economic systems of the European countries themselves were confirmed. This was one of the results of the EU enlargement to the East.

New members

The Union itself officially considers the entry into the Union of Romania and Bulgaria as the end of the fifth stage. These two countries, which in 2004 were not yet ready to join the EU, were acceptedinto the "European family" in 2007. Like the ten countries adopted three years earlier, they were subject to certain restrictions. In their political and social systems, experts noted the lack of progress in key areas, such as the judiciary. All this led to further restrictions. This has become a serious problem of EU enlargement.

Croatia is the latest country to join the European Union. This happened in 2013. At the same time, most representatives of the European Parliament note that the adoption of Croatia into the "European family" was not the beginning of a future expansion, but a continuation of the previous, fifth, which was eventually formalized according to the "ten plus two plus one" system.

Expansion plans

At the moment, several countries are negotiating accordingly. The EU says it is ready to accept any European democratic free market state that brings national legislation in line with the requirements of the European Union.

Now there are five countries in the status of candidates for EU accession. These are Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey. At the same time, negotiations on accession have not yet begun in Macedonia and Albania.

Experts believe that Montenegro, which is the second after Croatia in terms of compliance with the requirements of the Copenhagen Accord, has the best chance of joining the EU in the near future.

In the near future

Among the new members of the EU, Iceland was also considered, which filedapplication in 2009, but four years later the government decided to freeze the negotiations, and in 2015 officially withdrew its application. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the latest to apply. This happened in 2016. The country has not yet acquired the status of a candidate.

Also, an association agreement with the EU was signed by three republics of the former Soviet Union - Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova.

Back in 1992, Switzerland applied for EU membership, but at the referendum held in the same year, the majority of the inhabitants of this country spoke out against this integration. In 2016, the Swiss parliament formally withdrew its application.

As the leadership of the European Union itself has repeatedly stated, further plans to expand the community to the Balkans.

Leaving the EU

In the entire history of the European Union, not a single state has yet left the EU. The precedent has come up quite recently. In 2016, a referendum was held in the UK, in which the British were invited to express their opinion on the further integration of their state into the European Union.

The British were in favor of leaving the European Union. After 43 years of participation in the work of EU bodies, the kingdom announced the launch of processes for withdrawing from all European institutions of power.

Relations between Russia and the EU

In Russia, the attitude towards EU enlargement has been changing in recent years. If in the early 2000s most experts agreed that this could pose a threat to economic policyRussia, now there are more and more experts who see benefits and prospects in this.

In addition to the economic consequences of the EU enlargement, many are also concerned about the political ones, since in recent years states that are ill-disposed towards Russia have become members of the Union. In this regard, there are fears that this may affect relations with the entire EU.