Enlargement of the EU to the East

General Developments in the Enlargement of the EU to the East

On May 1, 2004, 10 states from Central and Eastern, as well as Southern Europe acceded to the European Union, namely Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. Consequently, the European Union now has 25 member states and its population has grown by some 75 million to more than 450 million EU citizens. The area covered by the EU community of states has increased by about 0.73 million square metres to close on 4 million square metres.

For Bavaria, this first meant that within a very short time it had moved in geographical terms from a position at the edge of the European Union to its very centre. Regions bordering on the Czech Republic, which had for decades been considerably prejudiced in their development andsuffered from a structural disadvantage compared with other Bavarian border regions due to their location on the Iron Curtain, are now suddenly exposed to entirely different framework conditions as a result of the political process of unification. More intensive exchange of goods and services accompanied by substantial differences in labour costs, tax and support, increased traffic, new competition situations in industry, surviving environmental and social standards as well as greater freedom of movement for the citizens are EU-wide catchwords in the public debate (see role of Bavarian industry in the enlargement of the EU to the East). The rejected referenda on the constitution by France and Holland are linked not least with the major changes that future processes of enlargement as well as those already accomplished will entail for the citizens of the EU.

In this light, the border regions rightly demand assistance and appropriate measures to compensate for the marked differences in development aid and to alleviate the disadvantages for these regions. On the other hand, the new open markets in the East also offer opportunities and advantages for businesses and service providers located near the borders, provided wage and price levels are competitive.

The adoption of the so-called acquis communautaire, and hence also the adoption of EU law in the fields of the environment, public health and consumer protection as well as of many existing standards and policies was a necessary condition for accession, even though it was obviously not possible to complete this process in all policy sectors by the date of accession. In some fields, where the EU standards in force involve high costs due to expensive plants and equipment, for example for the supply and disposal of water, longer transitional periods were granted by the EU in certain cases.

In the meantime, two other states from Eastern Europe - Romania and Bulgaria - have complied with the so-called "Copenhagen Criteria" and received the status of accession countries. Assuming that the current accession timetable will be adhered to, the European Union will consist of 27 members from 2007 onwards. The Directorate General of the European Commission responsible for enlargement is steering and monitoring the implementation of the acquis communautaire in the pre-accession phase. On October 4, 2005 membership negotiations were also initiated with Croatia, the years 2007 or 2008 currently being quoted as the earliest possible date for accession. As in the previous round of accessions, Bavaria will make appropriate preparation for this new development. A special case is presented by the decision taken on October 4, 2005 to commence membership negotiations with Turkey, with great obstacles being created for its accession. Bavaria favours a privileged partnership, on the one hand recognizing the special importance of Turkey to Europe, while on the other not over-burdening the capacity of the European Union to admit more new members.

So far, no date has been fixed or politically discussed yet for the end of the process of expansion of, and accession to, the EU, but the political debate on so-called European finality is taking up increasing time and space also in connection with the proposed constitution.