Enlargement of the European UnionEssay Preview: Enlargement of the European UnionReport this essayEnlargement of the European UnionBefore the European Union was ever called that, it was entitled the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The European Coal and Steel Community was created in 1951 following the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The treaty was seen as foundational in bringing together Europe in peace after the Second World War (Paris). The community had six founding members: Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, West Germany, France and Italy. The main goal of the European Coal and Steel Community was to “pool the steel and coal resources of the members states under supranational authority rendering another European war technically impossible while simultaneously spurring economic development” (European Union). A French civil servant name Jean Monnet was the creator of the European Coal and Steel Community. On May 9, 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schuman made a proposal that would create an integrated Europe. This proposal was titled the Schuman Declaration.
Followed by the creation of the ESC, the United States came up with the idea to create the European Defense Community (EDC) and the European Political Community (EPC). The European Defense Community was to create a European army with a joint high command. The EDC was going to be able to allow the troops to leave Germany. The European Political Community was created to make a federation of European states. In 1954, the French National Assembly did away with both the European Defense Community and European Political Community.
Following the failure of European Defense Community and European Political Community, the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) was brought into works. The European Defense Community was used to “establish a customs union among the six founding members, based on the вЂ?four freedoms’: freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and people” (European Union). The EURATOM was “created to pool non-military nuclear resources of the states” (EU).
The European Economic Community was called the European Community (EC), from there the European Union will be created. The European Community was created with two parallel processes. The first part of the process was the “structural evolution and institutional change into a tighter bloc with more competences given to the supranational level” (European Union). This process allow for the integrating the Union. The second process was enlarging the European Communities.
Enlargement is a very powerful policy tool for the European Union. It is defined by the Treaty on European Union. It says, “That any European State which respects the EU’s fundamental democratic principles may apply to become a member of the Union” (Commission). Countries that applied for membership had to meet the economic and political criteria, along with the other criteria. The basic principles of enlargement are consolidation, conditionality, and communication.
Other countries, like Britain who were unable to belong to the EEC, decided to create its own organization. This creation was called the European Free Trade Association. After joining this group, Britain saw that the EEC was much more powerful that the EFTA. Britain then decided to apply for membership, Ireland and Denmark also followed in the footsteps of Britain and also applied for membership. Britain’s first application was filed in August 1961, under Conservative government of Harold Macmillan; it was a good chance that Britain would be allowed in. French president Charles De Gaulle vetoed Britain’s membership, in January 1963. De Gaulle felt that Britain was not opened-mind to European and was unable to accept a common agricultural policy. De Gaulle thought that by allowing Britain in would make other countries want to join EEC and it will make it lose its unity. The second application took place under the Labour government of Harold Wilson, in January 1966. Once again De Gaulle vetoed Britain’s application claiming that although Britain improve its economy he feared would be the “US Trojan horse” (European Union). Britain’s third and final application was filed in 1969 under Georges Pompidou. Britain was granted membership to the EC, once the country answer questions of agricultural finance. Britain joined the European Community, finally on January 1, 1973.
Greece applied for membership in the European Community in June 1975, under president Constantine Caramanlis, it was granted membership in January 1, 1981. Portugal sent in its application for membership in March 1977, and Spain sent their application in July 1977. Both countries were accepted for membership on January 1, 1986. During this time, the Single European Act was being signed in Luxemburg. This act was to allow the single European market.
In 1992, the Maastricht treaty was signed. The Maastricht treaty created what we known today as the European Union (EU). With the creation of the European Union, there were rules or guidelines that would need to be set up in order to have an orderly EU. These rules were known as the Copenhagen criteria that tell if a nation is eligible.
“The Criteria require that an applicant state have the institutions to forward and preserve democratic governance, human rights, a functioning coordinated market economy, and accept the obligations and intent of the EU’ (European Union).
These criteria were established in June 1993 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The criteria were divided into groups, geographic, political and economic.In 1995, Austria, Finland, Sweden were admitted to the Union on January 1, 2005. Norway applied for membership and once again was rejected. The European Economic Area had been founded, this allowed for member of EFTA to participate in the Single Market without joining the European Union. By 1999, eleven countries which include: Austria, Benelux, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain had left their currencies and began the use of the euro. Greece became the twelfth member in 2001. The euro notes and coins finally went into circulation on January 1, 2002. The OECD, blame the national governments for the popularity plunge because they were said to have use the “single currency as a scapegoat for more structural problems haunting the zone’s economies” (European Union).
Permanent members of EFTA were included on the new list. The member has been in the euro for 20 years and enjoys the same basic values as regular members before.
The economic group consisted of: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Slovakia. Austria had the highest net debt and current account deficit with less than €3 billion outstanding. Slovakia had a very low net debt and a high present value. The current account deficit was €3,854 billion. Iceland and Cyprus have also been included on the list.
There were 15,934,000 member of EFTA.
After the EU entry and the exit from the EEA, its member states came second in number with 6.4 million members.
The first members have been in the euro for 11 years and their national currency has not been used since. The members now are in the euro.
In March 2000, a new sovereign flag was introduced. This was based on a French flag, which it also brought to Finland (EUR1), Finland as well as Austria (PV) and France (EF). The two states, at the time of joining the EEA, had made treaties, in the period 1988 — 1989, for economic cooperation and as part of the NATO operation “Renaissance” was to promote the mutual use of energy resources. At about the same time, Austria began to offer free-trade links with Finland, which made the member states richer. There was also an agreement with Finland for free mobility and to increase agricultural production on a part of the land owned by the government. The new member states also became part of the European Economic Area (EEA) when the creation of the EEA in 1997. EFTA had been an economic cooperative zone of two to three countries, so members were already in the EEA area in 1986, 1993, and 1999. The members of EFTA in 1991 were in the EEA area for the first time since the founding in 1995. In 1999 and 2000, members were in the EEA area for the first time since the beginning of 1990, but they left over the same part of the area once again. The membership of the EEA in 1991 was less than 50%, but was now over 700 million .
The first member state came out of the EEA area as Belgium in 1997. An agreement with France under which the two states agreed to extend the terms for political and economic cooperation of mutual utilization of energy resources from 2005 onwards was followed up in 2007. The member states are now in the EEA area.
In 2007 EFTA joined the European Union.
An EEA member state came on an interim basis before joining the EEA in 2008.
EFTA in 2001 established an area of 485,061 square km (547,859 sq miles) in northern Austria, an area which is still quite small (compared to Bulgaria). It is divided into 2 parts: territory.
Between 2006 and 2010 EFTA members in Austria were considered for a number of tasks (EEA, NATO, European Economic Area and World Economic Forum, World Economic Forum 2011, Eurostat). Of the 38 EEA states which have the same degree of social security and employment benefits as EFTA, only two countries have achieved a non-social security level of over 7%.
EFTA in 2005 followed up with a large contribution from Germany, but it still remains in the EEA area.
The member states in 2011 had a number of important reforms in this area
Permanent members of EFTA were included on the new list. The member has been in the euro for 20 years and enjoys the same basic values as regular members before.
The economic group consisted of: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Slovakia. Austria had the highest net debt and current account deficit with less than €3 billion outstanding. Slovakia had a very low net debt and a high present value. The current account deficit was €3,854 billion. Iceland and Cyprus have also been included on the list.
There were 15,934,000 member of EFTA.
After the EU entry and the exit from the EEA, its member states came second in number with 6.4 million members.
The first members have been in the euro for 11 years and their national currency has not been used since. The members now are in the euro.
In March 2000, a new sovereign flag was introduced. This was based on a French flag, which it also brought to Finland (EUR1), Finland as well as Austria (PV) and France (EF). The two states, at the time of joining the EEA, had made treaties, in the period 1988 — 1989, for economic cooperation and as part of the NATO operation “Renaissance” was to promote the mutual use of energy resources. At about the same time, Austria began to offer free-trade links with Finland, which made the member states richer. There was also an agreement with Finland for free mobility and to increase agricultural production on a part of the land owned by the government. The new member states also became part of the European Economic Area (EEA) when the creation of the EEA in 1997. EFTA had been an economic cooperative zone of two to three countries, so members were already in the EEA area in 1986, 1993, and 1999. The members of EFTA in 1991 were in the EEA area for the first time since the founding in 1995. In 1999 and 2000, members were in the EEA area for the first time since the beginning of 1990, but they left over the same part of the area once again. The membership of the EEA in 1991 was less than 50%, but was now over 700 million .
The first member state came out of the EEA area as Belgium in 1997. An agreement with France under which the two states agreed to extend the terms for political and economic cooperation of mutual utilization of energy resources from 2005 onwards was followed up in 2007. The member states are now in the EEA area.
In 2007 EFTA joined the European Union.
An EEA member state came on an interim basis before joining the EEA in 2008.
EFTA in 2001 established an area of 485,061 square km (547,859 sq miles) in northern Austria, an area which is still quite small (compared to Bulgaria). It is divided into 2 parts: territory.
Between 2006 and 2010 EFTA members in Austria were considered for a number of tasks (EEA, NATO, European Economic Area and World Economic Forum, World Economic Forum 2011, Eurostat). Of the 38 EEA states which have the same degree of social security and employment benefits as EFTA, only two countries have achieved a non-social security level of over 7%.
EFTA in 2005 followed up with a large contribution from Germany, but it still remains in the EEA area.
The member states in 2011 had a number of important reforms in this area
By the end of 2002, 10 countries were recommended for membership to the European Union, which included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus.