Will Eastern Europe become the New Periphery to the Prosperous Nations of the West?

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.

== == == == ==

For the integration, the intersection of the economic need, life style of the people, and size of the economy must be same. Due to inappropriate way and lack of proper political integration by countries and surge in the national feeling over the common economic goal of the region has adversely impacted the area. European unions is comprised of many countries which include different countries which are in different stage of their economic development

The European Union is one of the most famous Economic blocs in our recent times. It is the culmination of efforts after the devastating Second World War. It currently includes 28 states with varied cultural and historical backgrounds and even different languages. It now has more than 30 separate international trade agreements with many countries such as Colombia and South Korea (Encyclopedia of Management).

According to the Austrian Foreign Ministry the enlargement of the European Union has laid the groundwork for European Integration (Austrian Foreign Ministry).

== == == == ==

Eurozone and the EU institutions failed to detect that. This undermines the ability of EU institutions to deal effectively with challenges of integration of new members as well as opens the possibility that the EU is not immune to similar occurrences in the future. Finally, since the onset of the European economic crisis, the EU has accessed only one new member in 2013 - Croatia. Thus, the stalling of EU explanation since the octet of the crisis can undoubtedly be attributed at least partially to economic factors. Ultimately, though, the long-term effects of this crisis on EU integration cannot be conclusively established at this point, as the crisis is still ongoing. Therefore, next I look over the conventional wisdom about the factors

Europe is located in the Western and Northern Hemispheres on the European continent. Europe lies north of the African continent, south of the Arctic continent, west of the Asian continent and east of the North Atlantic Ocean. Europe is known as one of the most dense natural environments due to the nation’s strong laws and regulations on recycling, energy efficiency, and pollution. In addition to this, Europe is a trendsetter when it comes to addressing issues related to climate change and global warming. Europe’s current population is 743.1 million and has little to no population growth. Lack of immigration results in a solution for labor needs but proves to be a difficult social issue. Due to Europe’s extensive history of internal cultural tensions, there is a multitude of cultural differences in language and religion. Currently, most issues concerning Europe are correlated to immigrant groups as they resolve contemporary social relations with European cultures. Europe’s geopolitical framework was established after half a century of Cold War that divided Europe into two contentious camps, East and West. However, Europe is now experiencing widespread political integration of former adversaries. After fifty diligent years, the European Union achieved advancement toward nationwide peace and prosperity when referring to Europe’s economic and social development. Nonetheless, there are still challenges within the European Union, particularly in the East and

The European Union should continue to expand. The expansion, however, should stop once Turkey becomes a member of the EU. Including countries such as Ukraine, Russia, or Israel, among other southeastern European states would have numerous negative effects on the EU. If the EU includes Turkey, then it will have established itself as not being an exclusive Christian club. If the EU then goes on to include Russia and Ukraine, or any of the others, then this would overstretch the EU, thus making it a simple customs union, or possibly even cause its disintegration (Champion, Marc. 2004).

== == == == ==

The prospect of accession to the European Union, backed by European Union money and membership-driven reforms, has helped turn a dozen former communist countries from Estonia to Albania into full democracies. Since the end of the Cold War, ten of them have joined the European Union and NATO. To qualify for membership in both organisations, the new members buried old conflicts and embarked on economic reforms that made them richer. Europe as a whole has benefited because trade with the fast-growing economies of Central and Eastern Europe has made western member-states wealthier and stabilised the European Union’s borders.

== == == = =

== == == == ==

As the planned economy experiment of the Soviet bloc failed so it left scars in the economy of the CEECs. The average GDP of the candidates was only 40% of the average member state GDP, while representing approximately a third of EUs population and size. Comparatively, Spain’s and Portugal’s GDP was 70% of that of Member states upon entering (Nugent, 2004). Such a divide in income is troubling, to say the least, as the cost of development would now be shared among all member states, leaving the older members to pick up the tab.Furthermore, the EU budget would come under heavy strain, especially the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CEECs had a fairly undeveloped industry, seeing a large amount of the population employed in the primary sector. The numbers here are quite staggering, the percentage of the population employed in the EU in agriculture went from 5% to 12% after the enlargement (numbers taken from Eurostat data). To deepen the problem,

The European Union formed in 1956, firstly as a European Community until further expansion. “The Union was not the first attempt at European cooperation, but it has been the boldest in conception, the most developed and the most successful,” (Watts). With the first countries to join such as Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Holland, then many other countries joining for years after. It was formed in search of mutual benefit between the European countries after the impact that World War II took on Europe, and it created a huge benefit for Europe and its citizens, allowing travel to citizens freely within Europe, but in recent years we have seen a surplus of people wanting to come to Europe. While, the European Union has been a strong advantage for Europe, the open borders have become out of control and the future does not look as promising.