Eu

On February 2004 eight East and Central European countries along with the fifteen present European Union members meet to decide upon the entry of the eight ECE states into the EU. It is the perspective that these eleven states should be allowed entry into the EU, however the countries of Romania and Bulgaria should not be allowed entry during this time and should be given further time to show that their entrance will not harm the economy and condition of the European Union. The paper will detail some main areas dealing with the enlargement and the reasons that EU entry should be given to the prospective candidates; economic well-being, the Schengan Agreement and inclusion of the entering ECE into it. It will also look at the governments of the countries along with what the EU provides based on defense and national security.

The economic advantage of the coming enlargement for the ECE is large. This case is made larger for the sheer fact that a majority of the banks in these countries are owned by current EU member states. The entrance of the countries also according to White & Case will also be "extremely beneficial both politically and economically, not only for the Accession States" the entering countries have struggled for more than a decade since the fall of communist rule to make their economies fit in with the capitalistic design and this has always been with the hope of someday entering the EU (Cohen, Roger). The implementation of the many laws and provisions that the European Union commission is somewhat of a strain but this is yet another step towards a place in the EU and its momentary pain is far out weighed by the many benefits of membership. The country of Poland since 2002 has been on track to implement a figure of "70 laws and 900 executive acts" of EU and that this is being done so they will be able to benefit from the EU trade and economic advantages including market access and subsidies (Freudenstein, Roland). Further implication for the ECE to join the EU is that the top five countries economies grew at an average of 3.4 percent over a four year period from 1994 to 1999 while during the same time EU countries only grew at a rate of 2.4 percent (Grabbe, Heather). The joining countries will only strengthen the EU economies and drive the members towards more being more profitable. The economies of the ECE countries have liberalized their economies in hope of EU entrance and the growth stated above is just proof of this hope. The ECE countries have seen EU membership as the driving force at making their countries better, the EU has been the carrot attracting these countries to make the strides and strengthening their economies and other aspects. The introduction of the ECE countries is estimated to bring some 300,000 jobs and race the Gross Domestic Profit by 0.2 per cent (Grabbe). The gains for countries such as Poland or the Czech Republic are even greater since these countries are not as large economically and will only benefit from inclusion. The introduction will likely slow the growth but in turn it will allow for real wages to increase (Boeri, Tito; Martins Joaquim). Further Boeri and Martins state that the introductions of the ECE countries will help bolster western European countries as these new countries buy more of goods available in these market (Boeri; Martins).

The Schengen agreement allows free movement of workers and citizens of EU members the entering ECE countries believe this to be a main factor which goes along with the economic advantage of the EU. Yet there is some contention to allowing smaller scale trading amongst nations not involved within these Schengen areas. The possible problems with these areas can be ironed out since each country would have different concerns regarding the agreement based on regional trade. The Schengen areas are also a concern for some EU countries and there is some concern that EU members impose a quota on the number of allowed visas if this is the case it is the hope of the entering ECE countries that this will be taken care of so as not to be a problem with regards to the entering countries. Lessons can also be drawn from the case of Italy and the use of Schengen than; the below statement comes from Ferrucio Pastore in his paper Border Countries in an Enlarging Union: Some Reflections based on The Italian Experience and details the experience of Italy relating to Schengen;

Schengen acted as a virtuous external constraint and as a modernizing factor without that kind of pressure, the process of adopting modern standards and adequate techniques for border controls, data protection and police cooperation would have probably been slower and less effective (Pastore, Ferrucio, 4).

Some countries fear that the resulting agreement will create a flood of foreign workers and people into EU countries yet this fear is simply a xenophobic one created by the Europe and press, yet similar warnings were heard when Spain and Portugal joined in 1986 and failed to materialize (Loof , Susanna). Yet, some of the rules that apply to the ECE countries do not apply to the countries of Malta and Cyprus and some "argue that there is not a culture in Europe of mass migration, he says the restrictions "artificially delay or block the unification of Europe, and that is not what accession should be" (Loof). However, with the Schengen areas most of the EU countries claim that they will impose some type of restriction to the entering countries since the Schengen areas will not come into effect until the 2007.

The CAP or Common Agricultural

...