2004 enlargement of the European Union
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2008) |
| European Union | |
 This article is part of the series: |
|
| Pre-1945 | |
| See also | |
| History of Europe Enlargement - Treaties Timeline - Presidency |
|
The 2004 enlargement of the European Union was the largest single expansion of the European Union (EU), both in terms of territory and population, yet was (at the time) the smallest in terms of gross domestic product (wealth).
The simultaneous accessions concerned the following countries: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Seven of these were members of the former eastern bloc, with one from the former Yugoslavia and the remaining two being Mediterranean islands.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Background
With the end of the Second World War in 1945, Europe found itself divided into two spheres of power, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR). The European Economic Community (EEC) was created in 1957 between six countries within the US sphere and expanded to twelve countries across western Europe. Eastern Europe had a looser economic grouping with the USSR known as Comecon. To the south there was Yugoslavia, a non-aligned, but communist, federation.
In 1989, the Cold War between the two superpowers was coming to an end, with the USSR's influence over eastern Europe collapsing. As the communist states began their transition to free market democracies, aligning to Euro-Atlantic integration, the question of enlargement to the east was thrust onto the EEC's agenda.
[edit] Negotiations
The Phare strategy was launched soon after to adapt the structure of the central and eastern european countries (Pays d'Europe Centrale et Orientale (PECO)) to Western system and more specifically to the European Economic Community. One of the major tools of this strategy was the Regional Quality Assurance Program (Programme Régional d'Assurance Qualité (PRAQ)) which started in 1993 to help the PECO States implement the New Approach in their economy.[1]
The Acquis Communautaire contained 3,000 directives and some 100,000 pages in the Official Journal of the European Union to be transposed. It demanded a lot of administrative work, immense economical change and raised major cultural problems - e.g. new legal concepts and language consistency problems.
Copenhagen criteria Nuclear plants [2]
[edit] Accession
The Treaty of Accession 2003 was signed on 16 April 2003, at the Stoa of Attalus in Athens, Greece, between the then-EU members and the ten acceding countries. The text also amended the main EU treaties, including the Qualified Majority Voting of the Council of the European Union. The treaty was ratified on time and entered into force on 1 May 2004 amid ceremonies around Europe: leaders met in Dublin for fireworks, President Romano Prodi took part in celebrations on the Italian-Slovenian border at the divided town of Gorizia/Nova Gorica, at the German-Polish border, the EU flag was raised and Ode to Joy was sung and there was a lazer show in Malta among the various other celebrations.[1]
[edit] Free movement issues
With their accession to the EU, free movement of people between all 25 states should apply. However, due to concerns of mass migration from the new eastern members to the old EU-15, some transitional restrictions were put in place. Mobility within the EU-15 (including Cyprus) and within the new states (minus Cyprus) functioned as normal (although the new states had the right to impose restrictions on travel between them). Between the old and new states, transitional restrictions up to 2011 could be put in place, and EU workers still had a preferential right over non-EU workers in looking for jobs even if restrictions were placed upon their country. No restrictions were placed on Cyprus or Malta. The following restrictions were put in place by each country;[2]
- Austria and Germany: Restriction on free movement and to provide certain services. Work permits still needed for all countries. In Austria, to be employed the worker needs to have been employed for more than a year in his home country prior to accession. Germany had bilateral quotas which remained in force.
- Cyprus: No restrictions.
- Malta: No restrictions on its workers, but does have the right to migration into the country.
- Netherlands: Initially against restrictions, but tightened up its policies in early 2004 and said it would tighten its policies if more than 22,000 workers arrived per year.
- Finland: 2 years of transitional arrangements where a work permit would be granted only where a Finnish national cannot be found for the job. Does not apply to students, part time workers, entrepreneurs, people living in Finland for non-work purposes, people who were already living in Finland for a year or people who would be entitled to work anyway if they were from a third country.
- Denmark: Two years where only full time workers can get a work permit, if they had a residence permit. Workers did not get welfare but restrictions only apply to wage earners (all the EU-10 citizens can set up a business).
- France: Five years of restrictions depending on sector and region. Students, researchers, self employed and service providers were exempt from the restrictions.
- Spain: Two years.
- Portugal: Two years, annual limit of 6,500.
- Sweden: No restrictions.
- Czech Republic and Slovakia: No restrictions.
- Poland: Reciprocal limits, only British and Irish citizens had free access. Countries with looser or tighter limits face similar limits in Poland.
- Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg: Two years.
- United Kingdom: Welfare restrictions only, need to register though.
- Ireland: No restrictions.
- Hungary: Reciprocal limits for seven years.
Despite the fears, migration within the EU concerns less than 2% of the population.[3] However, the migration did cause controversy in those countries which saw a noticeable influx, creating the notion of the Polish Plumber in the west, caricaturing the cheap manual labour from the east making an imprint on the west. Following the 2007 enlargement, most countries placed restrictions on the new states, including the most open in 2004 (Ireland and the United Kingdom) with only Sweden, Finland and the 2004 members (minus Malta and Hungary).[4] But as of April 2008, these restrictions on the eight members (they continue for Romania and Bulgaria) have been dropped by all members except Germany and Austria.[5]
[edit] Lasting impact
5 years after the enlargement, the EU is still "digesting" the change. The influx of new members has effectively put an end to the Franco-German engine behind the EU but the new members are not yet setting the policy agenda. Despite fears of paralysis, the decision making process has not been hampered by the new membership and if anything the legislative output of the institutions has increased, however justice and home affairs (which operates by unanimity) has suffered. The Commission sees the enlargement as a success, however until the enlargement is fully accepted by the public future enlargements may be slow in coming.[5]
[edit] New member states
Bulgaria and Romania are considered by the Commission as being part of the same round of enlargement (the fifth)[6] and their accession was later than the other post-communist states due to their lack of preparation for membership. They eventually joined in 2007.
[edit] Bulgaria
No restrictions on getting work Partial to full restrictions on getting work still mantained
The accession of Bulgaria to the European Union took place on 1 January 2007. The date of accession was set at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003 and confirmed in Brussels on 18 June 2004. Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005 at Luxembourg's Neumuenster Abbey.
Within the framework of integration meetings held between the EU member states and Bulgaria, an 'Association Committee' was held on 22 June 2004. It confirmed overall good progress for the preparation of accession; however, it highlighted the need for further reform of Bulgaria's judicial structures, particularly in its pre-trial phases, as well as the need for further efforts to fight against corruption and organized crime, including human trafficking. There was also, according to the report, limited progress regarding the integration of the Roma community. The findings were reflected in the 2004 Regular Report.
The Brussels European Council of December 17 2004 confirmed the conclusion of accession negotiations with Bulgaria. The 26 September 2006 monitoring report of the European Commission confirmed the date once more, also announcing that Bulgaria and Romania would meet no direct restrictions, but progress in certain areas — reforms of the judicial system, elimination of corruption and the struggle against organized crime — would be strictly monitored.
With this accession, the Cyrillic alphabet became the third official alphabet of the EU, after the Latin and Greek alphabets. Cyrillic will also be featured on the euro banknotes and the national (obverse) side of the Bulgarian euro coins. The ECB and the EU Commission insisted that Bulgaria change the official name of the currency from ЕВРО (as accepted) to ЕУРО, claiming that the currency should have a standard spelling and pronunciation across the EU.[7] For details, see Linguistic issues concerning the euro. The issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the 2007 EU Summit in Lisbon, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents.[8][9]
Some member states of the EU require Bulgarians to acquire a permit to work, whilst members of all other member states do not require one. Currently, 15 member states allow Bulgarians to work without a permit. Restrictions may remain in place until 2014 – 7 years after their accession.[10][11]
[edit] Cyprus
Since 1974 Cyprus has been divided between the Greek south (the Republic of Cyprus) and the northern areas under Turkish military occupation (the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus). The Republic of Cyprus is recognised as the sole legitimate government by most countries, including the entire European Union, while the northern occupied area is recognised only by Turkey.
Cyprus began talks to join the EU, which provided impetus to solve the dispute. With the agreement of the Annan Plan for Cyprus, it was hoped that the two countries would join the EU together as a single United Cyprus Republic. Turkish Cypriots supported the plan. However, in a referenda on 24 April 2004 the Greek Cypriots rejected the plan. Thus, a week later, the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU with political issues unresolved. Legally, as the northern republic is not recognised by the EU, the entire island is a member of the EU as part of the Republic of Cyprus, though the de facto situation is that the Government's is unable to extend its controls into the occupied areas.
Efforts to reunite the island continue as of 2009.
[edit] Poland
Accession of Poland to the European Union took place in May 2004. Poland had been negotiation with the EU since 1989.
With the fall of communism in 1989/1990 in Poland, Poland embarked on a series of reforms and changes in foreign policy, intending to join the EU and NATO, became realistic. On 19 September 1989 Poland signed the agreement for trade and trade co-operation with the (then) European Community (EC). Polish intention to join the EU was expressed by Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki in his speech in the European Parliament in February 1990 and in June 1991 by Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Krzysztof Skubiszewski in Sejm (Polish Parliament).
On 19 May 1990 Poland started a procedure to begin negotiations for an association agreement and the negotiations officially began in December 1990. About a year later, on 16 December 1991 the European Union Association Agreement was signed by Poland. The Agreement came into force on 1 February 1994 (its III part on the mutual trade relations came into force earlier on 1 March 1992).
As a result of diplomatic interventions by the states of the Visegrád group, the European Council decided at its Copenhagen summit in June 1993 that: "the associate member states from Central and Eastern Europe, if they so wish, will become members of the EU. To achieve this, however, they must fulfill the appropriate conditions." Those conditions (known as the Copenhagen criteria, or simply, membership criteria) were:
- 1. That candidate countries achieve stable institutions that guarantee democracy, legality, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.
- 2. That candidate countries have a working market economy, capable of competing effectively on EU markets.
- 3. That candidate countries are capable of accepting all the membership responsibilities, political, economic and monetary.
At the Luxembourg summit in 1997, the EU accepted the Commission's opinion to invite several Central and Eastern European states (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus) to start talks on their accession to the EU. The negotiation process started on 31 March 1998. Poland finished the accession negotiations in December 2002. Than the Accession Treaty was signed in Athens on 16 April 2003 (Treaty of Accession 2003). After the ratification of that Treaty in the Polish European Union membership referendum, 2003, Poland and other 9 countries became the members of EU on 1 May 2004.
[edit] Romania
The Accession of Romania to the European Union took place on 1 January 2007. This date was set at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003 and confirmed in Brussels on 18 June 2004. The country reports of October 2004 also affirmed the 1 January 2007 date of accession for both Bulgaria and Romania. The Treaty of Accession was signed on 25 April 2005 at Luxembourg's Neumünster Abbey. The 26 September 2006 monitoring report of the European Commission confirmed the entry date as 1 January 2007. The last instrument of ratification of the Treaty of Accession was deposited with the Italian government on 20 December 2006 thereby ensuring it came into force on 1 January 2007.
Romania was the first country of Central and Eastern Europe to have official relations with the European Community. In 1974, a treaty included Romania in the Community's Generalized System of Preferences. Since the Romanian Revolution of 1989, European Union (EU) membership has been the main goal of every Romanian Government and practically every political party in Romania. Romania signed its Europe Agreement in 1993[12] and submitted its official application for membership in the EU in 1995, the third of the post-Cold War Eastern European countries to do so after Hungary and Poland. Along with its official EU application, Romania submitted the “Snagov Declaration”, signed by all fourteen major political parties declaring their full support for EU membership.[13]
During the 2000s, Romania implemented a number of reforms to prepare for EU accession, including the consolidation of its democratic systems, the institution of the rule of law, the acknowledgement of respect for human rights, the commitment to personal freedom of expression, and the implementation of a functioning free-market economy. The objective of joining the EU has also influenced Romania's regional relations. As a result, Romania has imposed visa regimes on a number of states, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey and Moldova.
[edit] See also
- Treaty of Accession 2003
- Statistics relating to enlargement of the European Union
- 6th European Parliament
[edit] References
- ^ EU welcomes 10 new members, CNN 1 May 2003
- ^ EU-25: Member States grapple with the free labour market, Euractive 17/08/04
- ^ Who’s afraid of the EU’s Largest Enlargement? Report on the Impact of Bulgaria and Romania joining the union on Free Movement of People, European Citizen Action Service 28/01/08
- ^ EU free movement of labour map, BBC 28/07/08
- ^ a b EU still 'digesting' 2004 enlargement five years on, EU observer
- ^ Enlargement, 3 years after, Europa (web portal)
- ^ "Николай Василев ще брани в Брюксел изписването “евро” вместо “еуро”" (in Bulgarian). Mediapool.bg. 2006-11-07. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. http://www.webcitation.org/5h6xL678u. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
- ^ Bulgaria wins victory in evro battle | Reuters
- ^ "Evro" dispute over - Portuguese foreign minister | The Sofia Echo
- ^ "4 EU nations ease work restrictions on new members". Associated Press. 2008-01-08. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EU_EASTERN_WORKERS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT. Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
- ^ "Freedom of movement for workers". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_for_workers.
- ^ Chronology of the Fifth EU Enlargement, Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
- ^ Melanie H. Ram, Ph.D., Sub-regional Cooperation and European Integration: Romania’s Delicate Balance
