The story of Europe is still being written. The entrance of new countries, ten in 2004, two others in 2007, and the current question of opening Europe to Turkey, shows that the European Union is continuously evolving. From 1947 to 1989, the liberalist doctrine has been adopted by the Western part of Europe, in opposition to the Eastern with its communist ideals. The countries from Western Europe, supported by the United States, started to gather together in institutional organizations, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1948, and above all the beginning of the European Community in 1957 with the Rome Treaty. Started with six countries, the European construction happened step by step. Nine countries in 1973, ten in 1981, twelve in 1986, fifteen in 1995, the Union, which used to include only Western and liberal countries, started to include ex-USSR countries to organization.
[...] At last, it's normal that the enlargements cannot create only positive effect for every one and in every matter, but the base of this project is solidarity: the rich countries have to help the poorer; this is what makes the difference between Europe and some other regional integration models: the European Union is much more than a simple basic free-trade area, it made the political choice to integrate weaker countries (economically speaking), and to base its gathering not only on a financial cooperation, but above all on solidarity and on a cultural assembly of different societies. [...]
[...] Those countries, and particularly their trade balance, are clearly the beneficiaries of the integration of the new countries, even though the agricultural production is scheduled to decrease for all the countries of the Fifteen, at a level of for Germany, Austria and France. As a result, the agricultural workforce (qualified or not) will be reduced, above all in France, which is highly dependant of its agricultural sector, as it represents of its GDP (in 2004), and as France is the second agricultural exporter worldwide. [...]
[...] Conclusion To sum up, the integration of those new countries will involve costs from the existing members, but it does not eventually appears very costly compared to the advantages it can bring: the creation of new opportunities for all the countries by widening the European market, permitting a huge economical cooperation between the twenty-seven members, and equalising the standard of living of all of them. But the main benefit from the enlargements is not calculable: the greatest success of the European Union is to assure a political stability and to maintain peace on the old continent (at least within [...]
[...] Considering that the ten countries will have to contribute to 15 billions to the budget, the total integration cost for the Fifteen is 25,8 billion euros, which is not really a lot as it represents only 0,08% of the total European GDP (Ministère des Affaires Etrangères Français / French Foreign Minister). II. The end of barriers If we focus only on the ten new member states of 2004, they bring almost 75 million more inhabitants to the EU, which leads to a market of 453 billion consumers: one of the biggest in the world after China and India, and after the United Stated in terms of GDP. [...]
[...] The countries had to have stable institutions which guaranteed democracy, to respect human rights, of the environment, and to respect and protect their minorities for instance, but they also had to have a sustainable market economy, the ability to face the competitors' pressure in the European Single Market, and to respect the main principles of Europe: free movement of goods, services, capital, and people. Once those conditions satisfied, those countries, except Cyprus, accepted the entrance through a consultation of their population by referendum. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
