Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 5:34:48 GMT
It has been 18 years since exactly on May 1 the largest expansion of the European Union in history took place with the simultaneous membership of ten new member states. And, for the first time, many countries joined the bloc, which for half a century were on the other side of the Iron Curtain, as part of the communist eastern bloc led by the Soviet Union. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta joined the EU on the same day. Two and a half years later, on January 1, 2007, Romania and Bulgaria also became members, which were part of the same expansion wave, but in 2004 it was estimated that they were not yet ready to become members.
This great enlargement of the EU today in Brazil Telegram Number Data Brussels is mentioned as a success, but this date is no longer marked with as much euphoria as it used to be. EU enlargement is no longer such a popular process in the EU, although it continues with the aim that the six Western Balkan states will one day become members. While in the case of the great enlargement the process was seen as a "political priority with the aim of uniting Europe once divided on ideological grounds", now the process is much slower and with many conditions. Although the membership of countries from Eastern Europe is seen as a success, some diplomats in the EU, with whom Radio Free Europe spoke, say that "from this expansion lessons were learned that are now used in relations with the Western Balkans, and they are not always positive".
"The enlargement process during the accession negotiations had great transformative power, it helped a lot in the fight against corruption and in the reforms of the administration, the judiciary and the rule of law. But, after joining the EU, some of these countries went back to these standards", recalls a veteran in the EU institutions, adding that "it is precisely this experience that some countries such as France, the Netherlands and Germany are now using to be more cautious in the case of the countries of the Western Balkans". "We have seen that the process of expansion is constantly becoming more difficult and slower. While countries like Slovakia or the Baltic republics took about two years to start and finish membership negotiations, Croatia took six years.
This great enlargement of the EU today in Brazil Telegram Number Data Brussels is mentioned as a success, but this date is no longer marked with as much euphoria as it used to be. EU enlargement is no longer such a popular process in the EU, although it continues with the aim that the six Western Balkan states will one day become members. While in the case of the great enlargement the process was seen as a "political priority with the aim of uniting Europe once divided on ideological grounds", now the process is much slower and with many conditions. Although the membership of countries from Eastern Europe is seen as a success, some diplomats in the EU, with whom Radio Free Europe spoke, say that "from this expansion lessons were learned that are now used in relations with the Western Balkans, and they are not always positive".
"The enlargement process during the accession negotiations had great transformative power, it helped a lot in the fight against corruption and in the reforms of the administration, the judiciary and the rule of law. But, after joining the EU, some of these countries went back to these standards", recalls a veteran in the EU institutions, adding that "it is precisely this experience that some countries such as France, the Netherlands and Germany are now using to be more cautious in the case of the countries of the Western Balkans". "We have seen that the process of expansion is constantly becoming more difficult and slower. While countries like Slovakia or the Baltic republics took about two years to start and finish membership negotiations, Croatia took six years.