Introduction
To understand the pros and cons that the European Union faces on matters involving enlarging the union we must dig a little deeper into the history of the union. The European Union was formed immediately after the Maastricht treaty signed in 1992. The union had twelve members initially they included, Greece, France, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Portugal, Luxembourg, Ireland and Spain. These were the first members of the European Union until 1995 when Austria, Sweden and Finland later joined the union (Manu, 2003).
Currently the union has twenty five members with ten more being added in 2004.Bulgaria and Romania later joined in 2007. Almost a population base of about five hundred million people is under the prominent union membership in Europe. The Union decided to go for a monetary and economic union in 1992 that included the use of a single currency in Europe (Therborn, 2000). The move however took ten years to become a reality and in 2002 national currencies were replaced by euro notes.
In recent years the Union has established itself as a pace setter and a mega competitor in the global business market. Due to the increasing integration the European Union has established strategies to enhance their performance. The strategies include welfare reform, social convergence, decentralization, enlargement and monetary unification. The European Union has started expanding admirably outwards in a bombastic manner (Wailer, 2002). This was evident when the chairman of defense and foreign policy in Russia Mr. Sergei Karaganov claimed that Europe was replacing America as its economic partner. The two partners had a common interest in geopolitical and economic issues.
Turkey is most prospective country to join the Union with the aim of proving that Islam is compatible with western values and culture. All Balkan nations are also eligible enough to become potential members of the union. The move is aimed at ensuring peace is maintained. All this activities prove that the union is becoming very powerful. This enlargement however may cause the splitting of the union due to various social economic and political challenges facing it (Coughlin, 2002).
Lately the European Union has been torn apart by two conflicting visions. One of the ideas is the Euro-nationalism or multi polarity that Tony Blair intensely opposes. Where some members want the European Union to be an independent actor and lock out the United States. The other idea is referred to as Atlanticism where the western alliance is maintained fully. When polls were conducted results showed that many members wanted the EU to be a super power like America. A few activities by the increasing size of the AU members are causing the European Union to fall behind economically (Kotler, 2002). They involve the supervision of the Euro, the argument on Iraq and the constitution.
The foreseeable constrain that seems to be facing union has given the union a wakeup call to cautiously evaluate the challenges and risks of trying to expand and increase more members. Experiences that were observed from the previous expansions are being analyzed. Where from 1986 during the southern expansion Portugal and Spain sought admission in the European community. The two were weak economically and the procedure of admitting them was made problem bearing and very lengthy. Matters of agricultural overproduction seemed to be the most disastrous due the burden the problem would cause on the European budget (Archibug, 2004).
What top officials are afraid of mostly is the eastern expansion and the economic consequences that will be verified. Communist heritage has taken over and many states have their concentration on the industrial sector rather than on the tertiary or agricultural sector. The Union will suffer a severe financial burden of about €6 billion every year. This money will be used to boost the underdeveloped agricultural sector in the new member states especially in the area of technological advancement. The financial constrain will cause discontent among existing the old members. Existing member countries will face a mega financial load beginning with budget cuts since new members will be payees rather than payers (Hedley, 2005). Italy and Spain all from the Mediterranean are predicted to cause the cuts.
Another problem presumed to have a major consequence socially after the enlargement is the rights the new members will gain after gaining citizenship of the European community. The fresh members will have the right to work and settle almost everywhere in the community. This could result to a situation where many people pour into the original member states in order to acquire jobs. Most European countries are also struggling with high unemployment levels thus the idea of bringing in a new population would worsen the situation (Falk 2006). This would prove to be huge liability especially to countries like Italy, Britain and Neo-Nazis in Germany.
Another social economic effect that would occur after the expansion would be that of increased languages in the European Union. The languages would obviously have to be more than the current twelve for effective communication and unity. This would automatically mean that the administrative body would be increased. Adding more additional costs of operating the union due to huge wage bills and bigger management responsibilities (Swift, 2002).
The historic event should not be viewed as tragic since a few positive results would be noted .First ethnic integration would be achieved which is a social benefit and a huge step towards fighting ethnicity in Europe. Due to the inter mingling of diverse cultures strong bonds of affection and understanding would be established thus a peaceful coexistence (Stubb, 2004). The competitiveness of the EU globally would prove to be unique against Asia and America thus improving the general economic status of the EU members.
Crucial institutional reforms have to be under taken however for the sake of the decision making process. The process is proving to be very lengthy and tedious. The possibility of making a common agreement is proving to be virtually impossible. There is a huge risk that an increase in members would intensify competition among individual states and also result in the formation of new coalitions in the union. Assumptions also speculate that an eastern expansion would cause a power shift towards the reintegrated Germany. This is as result of heavy reliance and bondage between Germany and the prospective members (Coughlin, 2002).
The agricultural policy in Europe should however be reviewed since it affects both the existing members and the prospecting members. The policy of subsidies and milk quotas that handles overproduction in many areas should be reviewed to avoid infuriating farmers. This is because many farmers cannot operate without the subsidies (Swift, 2002). The issue should be dealt with well even before considering the issue of adding more members to the union.
Another economical consequence resulting from the expansion of the EU is the loss of sovereignty. The existing members have already been absorbed by the move and it’s clearly visible where complete severe erosion of sovereignty even in the social sectors such as the education and health sector is unmistakably visible. However the EU clearly states that there is to be a complete loss of sovereignty in the currency politics and economic sector in accordance with the Maastricht treaty as soon as you join the Union (Hedley, 2005). Many of prospective new members however are willing to surrender their sovereignty in order to be absorbed by the EU.
The most controversial move by the EU was on the adoption of the Euro. The move had its own share of success but still had disappointing results. Positive critics pointed out that the use of a common currency in Europe is still of the most tremendous inventions by the union. Many people are up to date mesmerized by its ability to establish itself firmly in just ten years. In America it took 53 years just to have a common currency (Archibug, 2004). Through the use of the Euro the risk of exchange among member countries has been eliminated. The main aim of developing a common currency was to boost economic growth and trade. Expanding and enlarging may assist the Union especially when a country has made a financial mistake and all other members have to pay for it .If the union has many members the risk will be spread and hence a faster recovery from the ordeal.
The Euro however has shown some disappointing results. 12 of the countries that embraced the Euro still indicate an unemployment level of up to 9%. This could be as result of economic growth stagnation in Europe (Kotler 2002). When the economic growth was compared relatively to other countries such as China and America a much slower growth rate was noted in Europe. Even though the productivity per worker in both countries is similar a difference is observed. Germany is to be blamed for the affliction due to its financial constraints. Recent study has also proven that enlargement of the EU is also causing the fall back. When more members were added to Union more glitches involving unemployment, single mothers, the disabled and the retired seemed to add more salt to the injury. The high public expenditure and the slow growth rate also seem to be unsustainable. Critics presume that if the problem persists political tension may develop among the European Union members.
The enlargement of the Union will generally affect the constitution making process. If more countries enter the union then disputes on constitutional bases will arise. A keen investigative research will inevitably prove that member countries had to actually amend their constitution to conform to the European law. In Netherlands for example, the ladders used by window cleaners were very long and needed to be shortened. This made people insinuate that the programs operated by the EU were wasteful and corrupt. To illustrate how the matter on enlarging the European Union should be handled on a serious note, terrorist threats have been made by extremists arguing the EU is invading the political rights of certain groups (Therborn 2000).
The new members fall way behind the older members substantially in competitiveness and innovation. Among the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 Slovenia is ranked to be the best innovator. Followed closely by Estonia, Romania and Bulgaria respectively as ranked by the index ranking carried out by global competitors. Certain new members resolutely oppose any move to harmonize tax policies and stubbornly favor a national veto in social policies and tax. Their fear lies on the fact that they could lose foreign investment due to low wages and low taxes (Manu, 2003). The situation might foster a destructive environment rather than a reconstructive environment.
Enlargement is also predicted to suffer a structural draw back in comparison with the older members who are way ahead in GDP per capita. The transition challenges involve improving the infrastructure, developing the service sector, solidifying both the judicial system and the market structure. This structural drawback is estimated to slow down the pace of converging GDP. There is a huge enlargement fatigue especially where social issues are mentioned, destructive consequences are to be expected on matters of how to access social welfare such as health. There is a prediction that the European social model will be eroded (Coughlin, 2002).There is a lot of fear especially among old members that another enlargement will pose a lot of poverty disparities ranging from energy poverty, child poverty and health poverty.
Below is a statistical analysis of the countries with the highest GDP in the year 2011.
CountryGd p value
United States15078
China7322
Japan5897
Germany3807
France2778
Brazil2493
United Kingdom2432
A study made by the United Kingdom council however was sent out to prove that economic results of enlargement were actually successful. The council noted positive results in both the new member countries and the existing members. Extensive study concluding that the 5th enlargement had acted as a catalyst for economic modernization and dynamism for the European Union. Both members were well equipped to tackle globalization challenges (Falk, 2006).
The research also confidently stated that after asymmetries were taken into account .The assumptions were that the economic impact of enlargement on the new states was approximately twenty times far much better than the older ones. This is because the new states were able to create awesome business environments almost similar to those found in existing member’s countries (Kotler, 2002). As they were able to attract more foreign investors in both the privatization and the banking sector.
The research concludes that it may be difficult to speculate the fate of the European Union’s enlargement policy. Basing its evidence on the firm position taken by France while handling Turkey and the premature admissions made in signing in Romania and Bulgaria in 2007. EU’s capability to engross new members is in serious doubt too (Wailer, 2002). In general nevertheless the research claims enlargement has led to the prosperity of Europe’s economy.
In conclusion I feel that if Europe decides to nurture the union ambitiously then economic prosperity in the nation will no longer be a dream. The situation however, should be handled cautiously. Europe has very many diverse cultures and ethnic groups clearly demonstrated by the incidence that happened in Yugoslavia. A firm establishment of the union would mean a common monetary unit, a common bank and more importantly a single unitary government (Swift, 2002). This would result to a super power almost similar to the United States therefore; in my view other European nations should be permitted to join the Union if they meet the set standards. The decision making process also seems to be affecting the Union .The NAFTA model should therefore be fully implemented to tackle the problem.
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