Is Bigger Better? Expansion of the European Union Essay

Islam has been a dominant force throughout Turkish history. During the Ottoman Empire, Islam ruled every part of the theocratic state, but after the demise of the empire, Turkey's rulers led the country away from political Islam. The modern Turkish state has a strictly secular government, and Islam has been relegated to the personal sphere. Although Turkey has experienced a rise in fundamentalism in the past twenty years, the separation of church and state has remained relatively intact. Even with this increase of fundamentalist Islam, the wide majority of Muslims in Turkey are moderate and tolerant. They have adapted to modern life and value Islam for its moral and spiritual messages. Islam is a guide for right living and ethical

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.

When the EU takes on more countries, the differences between the nations and the people in them become more expansive. WIth more cultures and countries to work with, cooperation between the EU becomes difficult. This can be easily shown in the quote, “With all this unifying going on, one of the more delicate issues facing the new Europe is how to create a common foundation without carpeting over the continent’s rich tapestry of peoples, languages, cuisines, and cultures (Doc F).” The EU is struggling with uniting the EU as a whole, while maintaining the properties of that country that make it so unique. This can be a problem in keeping the identity of these countries. Another piece of evidence is the quote “European culture is a bouquet de fleurs,’[bouquet of flowers]...’Together they are beautiful. But the rose is still a rose, and the tulip is a tulip. This must be preserved (Doc F).” Herr Eisenhauer meant by the quote, that Europe is beautiful together, but each country must maintain its own

In the Middle East and Turkey, there has been an influx of muslims from Europe to support the cause of the Turkish people.

Turkey is a Middle Eastern country south of the Mediterranean Sea and west to the Aegean Sea. Turkey main religion is Sunni Muslim with a minority of Sufi Muslims with Christians, Jews and other religions only making up about 0.2 percent of the total population. Turkey is a relatively small country compared to the United States or China with the population of 74 million in 2013 (The World Fact book) In the last 15 years Turkey has made huge leaps and bounds to improve their economy and become a more economy independent country. Turkey as we know today was founded in 1923 from the remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by Mustafa Kemal (“Father of the Turks”). In the 1950’s

This essay will analyse the theoretical approach on the importance of the 2004 enlargement of the EU and propose an alternative view on why is enlargement important to the EU survival and development. The first chapter will give a broad outlook of the Eastern Enlargement in 2004, the Treaties and institutional change made to allow for the biggest enlargement up to date. The second part of the essay depicts the main views on importance and effects of the Eastern Enlargement. Finally, the last chapter will it will argument the incentives of politicians in both legislative bodies to push for further integration. The aim of this essay will be to produce a different

The European Union is comprised of member countries that have and practice different cultures and this brings about an effect on how they associate with each other. This divides are along religious line but far from the truth, they aren’t based on religious matters. They are on policy and how liberal the countries are in a quest to ensure that they remain in line with their citizens beliefs. In so doing they have formed a difference that the European Union hasn’t been able to eradicate and this has led to problems. The difference comes in the way of staunch

Throughout this analysis I will be breaking down the evidence to support my theory of EU membership satisfactions varying across Central/Eastern and Western Europe as the EU expands. I will begin by acknowledging that divide in Europe is not a new concept. In fact, European nations have been divided geographically, socially, economically, and culturally for centuries. In 2003 Hungarian scholar Elemer Hankiss acknowledged the difficulties that face divided Europe and provides insight on the historical divide in the following excerpt. “The candidate countries in East Central Europe—as well as the Balkans—need to reinvent themselves. They have to find something in which they can excel, they have to find their place in

Apart from the new member states reaping benefits from the newly integrated economy, incumbent members also benefited from access to a bigger internal market, a great potential supply of labour and more foreign direct investment and trade with the new members (EC 2007, EC 2009, Neueder 2003). While it has been documented that old state members also gained considerably from the enlargements, some member states reaped more benefits from others, raising concerns amongst skeptics of multi-speed economic progress that may threaten to affect the future of the EU’s economy (EC 2009, Neueder 2003). Not long after the fifth enlargement took place, the EU experienced a recession in 2009 (Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011) – however, instead of further worsening the economy, the entry of new members has been proven to be of a stabilizing factor in helping the EU deal with the economic downfall (EC 2007, Mulle et al. 2013). This goes to show that the accession of new states to the Commission has generally proven beneficial to the EU’s economy by presenting new economic opportunities and stabilizing it despite economic turmoil in 2009 (Mulle et al. 2013), which thus increases the prospects of a more prosperous and competitive EU in the future. Whether or not future enlargements will sustain this optimism remains to be seen.

EU enlargement is the most ambitious project that is often presented as the historic mission of reunification of the European continent (Kok, 2003). Since the foundation of European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, its membership has grown from 6 to 28 countries that together cover much of the continent, with the aim to bring prosperity, peace and freedom among the union members . On 1 January 2014, the population of the EU28 was estimated at 507.4 million, which accounts for over 7% of the world’s population (World Population Status, 2014). The European Union has long view the enlargement process as an extraordinary chance of promoting political stability and economic prosperity within the region (Archick, 2014). Past enlargement has brought several benefits to the region, such as transforming EU into a more influential global actor with more economic and political power, spread prosperity throughout the region though expanding the single market, enhance the regional securities and etc.(Politics UK, 2011). However, the past enlargement has also brought challenges to the EU both internally and externally; such as weaken its legitimacy, Central and Eastern Europeans migrating to older member states and direct linkage with new neighbors. Thus this assignment would evaluate the impact of past enlargement on the European Union by mainly focusing on the challenges rather than opportunities; as analyzing challenges from the past enlargement could possibly

Stability, security, and prosperity are qualities every individual desires, yet achieving such conditions may be a struggle in certain parts of the world. In Europe where two world wars have erupted, multiple wars/battles have broken out between countries, and where the Black Plague swept through; causalities are high and resentment is established in some cultures. Yet the continent is beautiful everlasting landscape from the green rolling hills of Ireland to the snow-capped mountains of the Alps, every country has its beauty. A group of nations desired to keep European states safe and preserved, so they established the European Union (EU). Objectives of the European Union is to have respect for liberty, democracy, human rights,

What will be the new criterion of the future Eastern members? The same criterion that allows Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus to join theoretically allow Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt membership as well. It cannot be forgotten that Spain and Morocco (not to mention France and Algeria, and Libya/Italy) have longstanding relations as well. Are we to extended the definition of Europe to these nations when, inevitably, they wish to ride the train of success that the EU creates?

Turkey faces a difficult choice - to reject the offer as too half-hearted, or accept it even though the terms are much less inviting that its government had hoped. If Turkey's application is successful, the EU's frontier would extend deep into the Middle East. Essentially, if it were to become a member it would become the first EU member with a majority Muslim population

Turkey has been inhabited for thousands of years, since the Paleolithic Age. From its extremely detailed and complicated history to its rich ethnic heritage, Turkey is a culturally diverse land where east meets west. Turkey is located at the crossroads of both Asia and Europe, which makes it politically and economically significant to both eastern and western regions. Historically, Turkey was part of the cradle of civilization, when it was known as “Asia Minor”. When it was colonized by the Ancient Greeks, it was introduced into western European influence, along with the establishment of the Byzantine Empire (Now, present day Istanbul) by the Romans. The capture of the city by the Ottoman Empire, however, brought it back to Eastern control. Unfortunately, the Ottoman Empire began slowly declining for several centuries, finally bringing the fall of the empire and thus establishing the Turkish Republic in 1923. This modern nation-state was forged by the reforms of Mustafa Kemal. Kemal sought to impose a secular— rather, laïcité, democratic system, in a predominantly Islamic nation; this began Turkey’s course toward progression and modernization. “My people are going to learn the principles of democracy the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will, every man can follow his own conscience provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him act against the liberty of his fellow men.”.

EU does is about bringing people in Europe closer together. It tries to make it easier for Europeans to buy and sell things to each other. This is done by changing the rules that control trade. The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. Moreover, the societies of the Member States are characterised by pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men. These values play an important role, especially in two specific cases.