The Challenges Of EU Enlargement

The EU s enlargement policy is not merely some expensive, expendable annoyance it is a vital component of the EU s security and outward projection of power.

Public sentiment towards EU enlargement is negative.

The EU s asylum policy has broken down.

Its policy of opting out keeps Britain on the sidelines of the EU.

The EU's foreign policy should be guided by the following goals

One danger of the recent setbacks is a halt to EU enlargement.

This is understandable, given the scope of enlargement and the need for an internal transformation of the Union.

But support for enlargement is fading everywhere, right on the brink of accession.

The EU will, instead, need a large, managed immigration policy.

There is now a striking asymmetry in the process of institutional adaptation necessary for EU enlargement.

This means that EU policy must be tailor made for individual countries.

In principle, the Commission ought to be slimmed down after enlargement, with fewer Commissioners than member states.

Instead, the EU's direct involvement in the Balkans should lead it to rethink its enlargement strategy.

It is now the EU s smaller states that gain the most from wider and deeper European integration.

There is another, less obvious, reason why the EU's policy on migration is flawed.

So after enlargement there will be six large and 19 small member states.

Given their experiences with the drawn out enlargement process, most candidate countries are leery about the motives of some large EU countries.

While the EU s vision of wider Europe relies on soft power, economic integration, and long term institution building, Putin s wider Russia policy depends on intimidation and violence.

The developing European transport policies will increase the pressure on the environment in many regions by the increased transport network.

Needless to say, a common EU foreign policy should not be anti American.

Rural policy in the EU is too often reduced to income guarantees for the farming community.

Opinion polls consistently show that British voters are unenthusiastic about the EU, and the picture is confirmed by the latest Eurobarometer poll, conducted throughout the Union for the Commission but before the recent enlargement from 15 to 25 member states.

If the EU continues to be governed under the Treaty of Nice, there will be no room for further political integration or enlargement.

Nor should today s uncertainties become an excuse to call into question the need to continue and complete the process of EU enlargement.

The first implication of such a massive expansion, is that there has to be a major overhaul of the Union's political and decision making institutions.

As the latest round of enlargement proves, the EU is very effective at molding the governance and behavior of would be members.

Active policies to promote new start ups and local companies expansion through credit, training, and technical support are imperative.

This is the first time, indeed, that the initiative for enlargement has come from the European Union rather than as a request from a candidate country.

What this means in principle can be stated concisely the EU needs a common foreign policy.

Such a policy would stop trade between Iran and the EU in its tracks, and Ahmadinejad knows it.

If anything, the risks of a US Europe split will be reduced rather than increased by the EU's recent enlargement.

The most recent stage of EU enlargement last May added millions of Roma from the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe.

Indeed, enlargement s total cost will be less than the annual increase in the EU Commission s own resources which normal economic growth provides.

Call this the paradox of enlargement.

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Exhausted by the frustrating climate negotiations in Copenhagen, European leaders seemed not to be in the mood for questions about EU enlargement.

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall will be commemorated in November, and it has been five years since the European Union s Big Bang enlargement.

One consequence of last year s enlargement is that it is forcing a far reaching re negotiation of all aspects of the EU budget.

It is high time that EU institutions address more seriously the challenges and opportunities posed by enlargement.

But British policy towards the EU has often led to worse rather than better relations among member states.

But politics, alas, is politics.

As EU enlargement approaches, people across Western Europe fear a flood of job seeking immigrants from the postcommunist accession countries.

The EU side, for its part, had to address the problem of how to balance fairness of treatment between old and new eurozone members with ensuring a smooth enlargement.

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