Challenges Faced By European Enlargement And Integration

The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 different countries. It consists of about half a billion citizens, and its combined economy represents about 20 percent of the world’s total economy (Briney, 2015). Today The European Union works as a single market, with free movement of people, goods and services from one country to another. There is a standard system of laws to be followed, and since 1999 many countries share a single currency called the Euro (Europa.eu, 2015). This essay will explore the background history of the European Union and the benefits and drawbacks of the European Union.

Since 1950 European Union (EU) was created it has promoted peace, prosperity and values among the member nations and its neighbouring countries. EU’s influential tools, has helped transform many European states into functioning democracies and prosperous countries. EU’s membership has grown from 6 to 28 countries (Enlargement, 2014), satisfying a historic vow to integrate the continent bringing in most states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by peaceful ideals.EU has anticipated the enlargement as an extraordinary opportunity to endorse political strength and economic success in Europe. EU’s extension policy is open to any European state that fulfils the EU’s political and financial criteria for membership; still the political process of inclusion of new state requires a unanimous agreement from all the existing 28 member states. Europe is considered to be more flourishing and safer place due to the promotion of democracy, anti-corruption policy and the single market policy.

The EU was created in the midst of a war in attempts to unite Europe under a common government. After 43 years of rebuilding foreign affairs, have their attempts made a positive impact on the modern Europe? Many argue that the EU takes a toll on country's sovereignty. They lack in allowing countries to be apart of the union, without masking the unique culture and diversity of that country. Despite the advantages of being apart of the EU, the disadvantages highly outweigh them in the areas of economic, independence and cultural identity.

Part of the exceptional nature of the EU stems from the notion that nothing like it has ever been attempted successfully before. The European Union is an international institution with a single market and shared currency. It strives to maintain singular goals and make its way towards being an “ever closer union”. Today, the European Union has expanded to include twenty-eight member countries with an influence that reaches every continent. This institution has had an impressive history, but it has reached a point of concern. The golden years which held high hopes of a united supranational Union are long over. The EU faces destructive problems today, which could ultimately end their impressive era of cooperation. The Union has come

The European Union is such a large politico-economic union that it plays a major role in the whole world’s economy. Although “the process of European Integration progressed over time both in depth and in extent” (Campos, et al., 2014, p. 6), it has been working on integration for over 30 years and the results are good at present as it is now providing benefits in GDP, labour markets, trading and many other aspects for its 28 member countries, including the United Kingdom.

In this essay, I will be discussing why and how the European Union was set up and the advantages and disadvantages of membership in its historical context.

After The Second World War, Europe was on the brink as it was in a state of total ruin, both economically and politically. Europe was involved in two World Wars in only fifty years, there was a massive need to achieve lasting peace as well as economic stability, this however would be difficult to achieve. The first major step was taken in 1951, when the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established. It was the chain of events leading from the ECSC that would be the first steps in molding today’s European Union. Throughout this period the “European” project was erratic and underwent quick development at certain times, and at others came to a grinding halt. The culminations of the larger moves seen in the sculpting of Europe were the main factors in the formation of the Europe that is seen today. Arguably the most important milestone is the, Treaty of Maastricht (1992).

The other side of the EU financial coin presents a global outlook on the percentage growth. The EU would benefit from the enlargement by promoting investment, trade, comparative advantage based production focus and competitiveness (Grabbe, 2001). So even if individual MS do not benefit directly from the enlargement the overwhelming fact remains that the EU as a whole will see an added rise in GDP around 1-2 %( Nugent 2004: 5). The candidate states have even more to gain then the EU-15 through membership; with the Commission estimated the added rise in CEECs GDP to be around 1.3% to 2.1% in the initial years alone (European Commission, 2001). And it is not just the percentage growth that supports the economic side of the Enlargement. With the development of the CEECs infrastructure and trade their ability to consume more products rises and in return creates a demand growth that benefits the countries that produce the most (Nugent: 2004). In the long run the EU-15 would see an added rise in overall GDP following the development of the CEECs which is facilitated and empowered by their membership in the EU.

The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 was an unprecedented possibility for the former Soviet satellites to join the EU. The EU offered a great possibility for economic prosperity by promoting free markets and common currency, which would guarantee economic stability so desperately needed in the poor post-authoritarian states. Through various policies and initiatives EU institutions

The current international system is characterized by growth in globalization hence regional integration is becoming a common phenomenon in most parts of the world. As a result of states becoming more interconnected, most of them have opted for regional integration so as to enhance trade between states thus boosting economies of the states as well as the regions as a whole. Besides free trade, regional integration has seen to it the elimination of trade barriers, free movement of goods and people across borders, regional co-operation in issues to do with peace and security within the regions among various other benefits of regional integration. One of the regions that has grown as a result of regional integration is the European Union (EU), which is an economic and political partnership composed of 28 European countries. This paper will focus on the EU and give a theoretical analysis of the Brexit while giving lessons of integration and liberalization based on the Brexit.

Joining the European Union brought several important and demanding political, fiscal, economic, and social changes to Portugal. This new situation implied free movement of capital, goods, services, and people within an internal single market as well as the implementation of common policies. Furthermore, the lack of national economic competitiveness, the increased competition from other member states, the trade deficit (imports higher than exports), and the increased immigration flow, were major challenges that Portugal had to face. Equally important to mention is that Portugal lost the autonomy

Since the beginning of recent crisis, the consideration of becoming European Union’s member for its benefits has been the main focus for many countries. As the incident of WWII proclaimed the shattered of European economy, many country’s economic system could not recovered on their own. Many evidences were obtained and analyzed from countries that became members during EU enlargement. “The EU on average would gain around 1⁄2 percent of real GDP over a six-year period. However, the impact is quite different in the separate EU member states” (Breuss 2001). Even though the problems are varies among different countries, whether they are stabled or are in the process of development, researches have shown that the benefits providing to EU members cause major rises in the economy. And the process of becoming EU member is effortless compared to the overwhelming benefits that they received. Therefore the main argument of this paper is: can growth and productivity be different when a country decides whether or not to join the EU?

European Union subsides can aid farmers in upgrading their equipment in order to compete with larger European businesses.13 The continued expansion of the European Union will eventually assistance every member, both new and old. However, big businesses may feel threatened by the increase of competition through the continued expansion of the Union. On the other hand, advantage of continued expansion would include 300,000 new jobs to be developed by the European Union

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by six countries in 1958. In 1967 they merged into European Community. The Maastricht Treaty established the EU under its current name in 1993. The EU has grown its size by the accession of new member states. For example, on May 1st 2004, 10 new members joined the EU and EU-15 became EU-25. In 2007 it became EU-27 when Romania and Bulgaria joined. It seems that the enlargement will continue and many people begin to consider whether the EU should admit more members.

The Americans did it – uniting almost the entire continent into a United States of America, and the Europeans did it too – creating the European Union with a single currency and governing principles. However, unifying large swathes of political territories is not as easy as it would seem and Africa’s diverse cultural, ethnic, economic and political interests may not allow the transition into a union to be smooth or even viable. The unification of countries, such as that in the European Union has its set of problems – especially with the more developed countries suffering huge immigration from the less developed countries in the union. Political developments like these threaten the stability of the entire region – and with African nations poised at varying degrees of development – from the highest end of the spectrum with South Africa, to the lowest end with Ethiopia and Congo an African Union may never be possible. This paper explores the pitfalls of the unionization of African countries, and argues that Africa should refrain from taking such a politically, economically and culturally disastrous step.