The toughest, best-prepared enlargement yet
The latest enlargement of the European Union (EU) from 15 sovereign democracies to a Union of 25 is arguably the boldest step yet in the EU's original purpose of healing Europe's Cold War divisions, and creating an ever closer union of its peoples.
This enlargement was triggered by the dramatic events in Poland and Hungary in the summer of 1989, when Jaruzelski's martial law government in Poland was forced to sit down with Solidarity, and when Hungarians opened their frontier with Austria to let tens of thousands of the East German holidaymakers seek asylum in Austria. The two countries set the trend: Two years later peaceful changes had taken place in the then Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, the three Baltic States and Slovenia.
Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the EU established diplomatic relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and moved to conclude Trade and Cooperation Agreements with all of the countries that have now become members. In the recent past EU membership had been the prize for countries that had rid themselves of non-democratic regimes. Similarly for many in the new member countries, it is a logical political reward for shaking off communist regimes.
At its Copenhagen Summit of June 1993, the EU declared membership open to all countries of Central and Eastern Europe who fulfilled three important criteria:
* Stable democratic institutions that provide for respect of human rights and the protection of minorities, * a functioning market economy * the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union
The EU Summit of Madrid in 1995 added a critical requirement, namely the ability to transpose and implement the body of EU law and regulations, which today runs into some 80,000 pages, or three meters high.
EU assistance henceforth focused on helping the candidate countries to tackle the criteria for accession. Already in October 1989, the EU had put on track the PHARE programme, the French term of "beacon", and more mundanely in "EU speak" the acronym for "Poland and Hungary, Assistance for Restructuring the Economy". It heralded the beginning of a massive support programme that from the early 1990s to "E-day" would amount to close to 30 billion euros, including 14 million expert days. Forty billion euros are earmarked for the two years following E- Day (Enlargement Day).
In mid-1996 the European Commission drafted the first of a series of Regular Progress Reports for each candidate country. It was on the basis of these reports that the EU decided to focus its assistance and finally to open formal accession negotiations with the candidate countries.
In the process "old" EU members developed a natural political interest in the success of candidate countries to which they had ties of history, trade or culture: Greece championed Cyprus and Bulgaria, the Nordic States felt particularly obliged to the Baltic States, and Germany insisted that there could be no enlargement without Poland.
In 1998, formal accession negotiations begun with five countries Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. In December 1999, at its Helsinki Summit, the EU gave the green light for the remaining countries and to start the process for Turkey.
By 2002 it became evident that not all candidates would maintain the same speed. Two separate target dates were set: 2004 for the current 10 countries, and 2007 for Romania and Bulgaria. For Turkey the European Commission will report on the feasibility of opening accession talks before the end of 2004.
The 10 new members joining on 1 May 2004 signed the Accession Treaties at the EU Summit of Athens in April 2003. (see photo)
This enlargement is truly unique. It is by far the largest, as it will increase the EU's population by 25 percent. Yet it will add just between 5 percent and 10 percent to the Union's gross domestic product, depending on the measure used.
This enlargement is also the toughest, in that all new member states must sign up to the whole body of EU laws and regulations, called "acquis" in EU speak, without any opt-outs. It is the toughest, because the acquis itself has grown enormously, covering many fields not dreamed of when previous enlargements took place. While Austria, Sweden and Finland had been able to "shadow" EU legislation for years ahead of their accession in 1995, the new candidates had to start from scratch.
This enlargement is also the most carefully prepared yet, taking 14 years, while absorbing vast amounts of training, administrative twinning and professional help, the candidates prepared themselves vigorously in "auto-driven mode". Critics tend to contrast the relatively speedy absorption of Greece, Spain and Portugal with the 14 painful years for the current new members. They tend to overlook the fact that none of the new members were able to receive any aid before joining the process.
In an age obsessed with a level playing field and when the acquis has acquired the dimension of an encyclopedia, it was felt to be fairer to spend more time on preparation and to get it right the first time, rather than allow opt-outs that would distort trade and competitiveness for decades to come.