European Buiness Studies

EU INTERGRATION

Introduction

The fall of the Iron Curtains in 1989 initiated the process of unification of Europe . It provided an opportunity to European nations for exploring their relationships and overcome their differences as the time demanded . The members countries worked persistently together with the prospectus countries to prepare for a bilateral partnership and then integrate into larger Europe . As the matter of membership was not an individual issue , but related to millions of people across different nations , precise schedule was set for the events to happen at the right

moment , allowing the groundwork to take place , before any country could accede to EU

Thus a criterion the Copenhagen Criteria ' was set which had to be complied with before membership could be awarded . The purpose of these standards was to create a firm democracy assuring human rights , freedom for minorities , and creation of vibrant economies and implementation of EU law . The basic intention was not creating a overnight economic growth in members and non-member countries , but to provide stability to this economic growth by single market . The idea was that the world is moving toward globalization , a combined EU would give a stronger voice in the international community and will pave the way for more confidence and political presence in the uni-polar world . Another issue was the re-distribution of wealth from rich states to poor states

to improve the infrastructure and economies . From 1987 to 1996 thirteen countries submitted applications to join the EU , which included : Cyprus Estonia , Hungary , Poland , the Czech Republic , Slovenia , Bulgaria Latvia , Lithuania , Malta , Romania , Slovakia and Turkey . In 2004 , EU expanded its membership from 15 to 25 with further increase in further two members Malta and Cyprus in 2007

The EU Vision

The vision of enlarged EU seemed very rosy and fanciful from its inception . With the passage of time as the states came closer towards EU merge , there were few states that showed their resentment through referendum . Out of the 25 current Member States 50 percent are in favour of further enlargement of the EU . And there are other states that have been opposing the idea of enlargement , while some are still deliberating , where to go . The charts below shows in detail the percentage of the European citizens against and in favour of EU enlargement The Current Crisis France 's clear rejection of the EU constitutional treaty is a severe blow to the integration of EU enlargement , especially at a time , when EU is going through many economic and political dilemmas . The constitution was carefully designed to reach a compromise , agreed upon by the member states , but now seems wasted by France rejection , putting EU integration in disarray . The reasons for French rejection are more psychological rather than political as French are unwilling to accept the merging into a larger Europe . For

optimists who earlier mentioned that French No was an exception , which cannot be repeated but three days later , Dutch No , once again proved that Europe is still divided

The French and Dutch...