Suchergebnisse

International audience ; Addressing the enlargement of the European Union (EU) with a focus on its actors raises two main analytical challenges. The first relates to the premise that this process is more than a chronology and a set of procedures and instruments. This entails treating the enlargement not only as a technical process but also as a social process involving complex power relations. The second challenge lies in defining who the actors of the enlargement are.

This report discusses the evolution of the European Union and its process for enlargement. The EU has long viewed the enlargement process as an historic opportunity to further the integration of the continent by peaceful means.

This report discusses the EU's enlargement process, which it views as a historic opportunity to promote stability and prosperity in Europe. On May 1, 2004, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the European Union (EU), enlarging the Union to 25 members.

For a long time, enlargement has been considered one of the EU's most successful policy instruments. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was created in anticipation of the fifth enlargement round in order to provide an answer for the EU in its relations with its new neighbours. The dual policies of enlargement and ENP were conceptualised as distinct EU strategies. Recent EU documents, discourses and events show that due to a certain enlargement fatigue the originally clear separation between EU enlargement and ENP is become vaguer, to the visible disadvantaging of enlargement. In addition, there is trend towards the creation of different regional cooperation forms for the area surrounding the EU. These represent a new approach towards the two policies and lead to alternative formations in the EU's neighbourhood or intermediate steps to enlargement. The driving force of these new dynamics is the scepticism affecting the EU's citizens, mostly as a result of a lack of communication regarding the EU's policies in this field.

"European Union Enlargement Policy" published on by Oxford University Press.