The Eastern enlargement of the European Union: “a political imperative and a major opportunity”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13133/2037-3651/18809Keywords:
European Union, Eastern enlargement, European Commission, Eastern European transition, European integrationAbstract
In May 2004, ten new states, most of which were Eastern European countries that had been ruled for almost 45 years by communist regimes, joined the EU. The political and economic collapse of the Soviet bloc that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall prompted the Eastern European countries to look to the EEC/EU hoping for achieving the prosperity from which the member states had benefited for decades; and urged the Western countries to take on the need for security and development in Eastern Europe, seeing in the eastward enlargement an additional opportunity for growth. This paper, which is mainly based on the records held in the Historical Archives of the European Union, aims to retrace the key steps of the largest enlargement in the history of European integration.
References
Apeldoorn B. van (2002), Transnational Capitalism and the Struggle over European Integration, London and New York: Routledge.
Apeldoorn B. van, Drahokoupil J., Horn L. (2009), Contradictions and Limits of Neoliberal European Governance. From Lisbon to Lisbon, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Appel H., Orenstein M.A. (2016), “Why did Neoliberalism Triumph and Endure in the Post-Communist World”, Comparative Politics, 48(3), pp. 313-331.
Astroza Suárez P. (2005), “La position de la Commission Européenne devant l’élargissement actuel”, in Landuyt A., Pasquinucci D. (a cura di), Gli allargamenti della CEE/ UE: 1961-2004 (tomo II, pp. 825 ss.), Bologna: il Mulino.
Bucarelli M. (2017), “Le guerre della ex Jugoslavia e il fallimento della sicurezza collettiva”, in Mugnaini M. (a cura di), 70 anni di storia dell’Onu. 60 anni di Italia all’Onu (pp. 263-284), Milano: FrancoAngeli.
Bucarelli M. (2023), “La Nato, la sicurezza europea e il ruolo della Russia alla fine della Guerra fredda”, Ventunesimo secolo: rivista di studi sulle transizioni, 52(1), pp. 9-34.
Formisano M. (2005), “L’integrazione europea tra ampliamento e approfondimento: gli obiettivi strategici della Commissione Europea”, Studi Urbinati A – Scienze Giuridiche, Politiche ed Economiche, 56(3), pp. 411-430.
Karamouzi E., Romano A., Sierp A. (2019), “The opening of accession negotiations with the countries of central and eastern Europe”, in Dujardin V., Bussière E., Ludlow P., Romero F., Schlenker D., Varsori A. (eds.), The European Commission 1986-2000. History and Memories of an Institution (pp. 528-535), Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Landuyt A. (2005), “L’Italia e l’allargamento ai PECO”, in Landuyt A., Pasquinucci D. (a cura di), Gli allargamenti della CEE/ UE: 1961-2004 (tomo I, pp. 61-76), Bologna: il Mulino.
Micheletta L. (2005), “Ex pluribus … 25 e più. L’allargamento dell’Unione Europea in una prospettiva storica”, La Comunità Internazionale, 60(2), pp. 245-267.
Pasquinucci D. (2022), Il frutto avvelenato. Il vincolo europeo e la critica all’Europa, Milano: Mondadori.
Patten C. (2005), Not Quite the Diplomat. Home Truths about World Affairs, London: Penguin Books.
Păun N. (2019), “Preparations for the fifth enlargement of the European Union (2004-2007)”, in Dujardin V., Bussière E., Ludlow P., Romero F., Schlenker D., Varsori A. (eds.), The European Commission 1986-2000. History and Memories of an Institution (pp. 173-181), Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Pirjevec J. (2001), Le guerre jugoslave 1991-1999, Torino: Einaudi.
Praussello F. (2005), “Le conseguenze economiche dell’allargamento”, in Landuyt A., Pasquinucci D. (a cura di), Gli allargamenti della CEE/ UE: 1961-2004 (tomo II, pp. 967 ss.), Bologna: il Mulino.
Varsori A. (2023), Storia della costruzione europea. Dal 1947 a oggi, Bologna: il Mulino.
Vatta A. (2004), “Lo sviluppo della società civile”, in Mattina L. (a cura di), La sfida dell’allargamento. L’Unione europea e la democratizzazione dell’Europa centro-orientale (pp. 215-255), Bologna: il Mulino.
Zaccaria B. (2023), “Dal Grand Marché alla Grande Europe. La Commissione europea e la fine della guerra fredda”, in Calandri E., Laschi G., Paoli S., “L’Europa si fa nelle crisi”. Integrazione europea e crisi esterne prima e dopo Maastricht (pp. 91-112), Bologna: il Mulino.
Zaccaria B. (2024), “A Statement of the Obvious? The European Commission and the Internal Rationale of the Copenhagen Criteria”, in Lorenzini S., Tulli U. (eds.), A More Democratic Community. The Place of Democracy in the History of European Integration (pp. 119-138), New York: Berghahn Books.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Massimo Bucarelli
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All material in this website and every article published by the review are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non commercial - No derivates 4.0 International license. Authors retain all rights on their works and grant the right to first publication to the review under the aforementioned license.
