Synopses & Reviews
The EU's eastern enlargement has coincided with a decade of rapid progress toward closer European integration. Poole argues that this enlargement, more than any previous one, is closely linked with major EU projects of integration, including justice and home affairs, monetary union, a common foreign and security policy, and the effort to create a constitutional treaty. By requiring the eastern states to adopt extensive reforms in their judicial and police systems, the enlargement process makes it easier for the EU to combat terrorism and organized crime and control the flow of immigration from outside Europe. The monetary union was deliberately put in place before enlargement (which might have made the task more difficult), but now the Stability and Growth Pact requires reform to make it flexible enough to serve a larger, more diverse Union. The addition of ten new states provides one of the main incentives for drafting a constitutional treaty. Finally, the candidate countries are helping to lay the groundwork for the next EU enlargement into southeastern Europe. As the first college text to explore the impact of the eastern enlargement on European integration, this book can be used effectively in comparative government, economics, European history, and international relations courses.
About the Author
PETER A. POOLE is a former Foreign Service Officer who has served in Brussels. He was the founding Director of the M.A. in International Studies at Old Dominion University and currently serves as an Instructor at George Mason University's Learning in Retirement Institute. Among his earlier books are Eight Presidents and Indochina (1988) and Profiles in American Foreign Policy (1981).
Table of Contents
1. Enlargement and Integration -- 2. The Pattern of Previous Enlargements -- 3. The Eastern Enlargement: Politics and Process -- 4. Poland Joins the EU -- 5. Economic Leaders: Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia -- 6. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -- 7. Romania and Bulgaria: Seeking to Stabilize Southeastern Europe -- 8. Reforming Agricultural and Regional Policy -- 9. Treaty of Nice: Essential Reforms -- 10. Enlargement and the Euro -- 11. Immigration and Enlargement -- 12. Justice and Home Affairs -- 13. Enlargement and the EU's Security and Defense Policy -- 14. Looking Beyond the EU's Eastern Enlargement -- App. Speech by Joschka Fisher, "From Confederacy to Federation"