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An Overview of the Evolution and the Future of European Integration

Beginning with only six countries in 1951, the European Union now numbers twenty-seven nations. Who actually joined when? A look at the development of the EU.

Since the entry of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU, newspapers columnists
have been issuing warnings of overexpansion and collapse, and senior
statespeople have been analysing the potential risks and functional
uncertainties of the European Union. Many citizens of the early EU member states feel "overrun,” and are calling for institutional reforms that they believe will preserve the capacity for political action. On the other side of the divide are the new member states of the East, who argue that their recent and largely positive shift toward democracy and a free market economy supports their call for prompt EU expansion.

With a population of approximately 490 million, the EU is the world's largest economic zone.
Foto: Photocase.com

With this in mind, it is necessary to ask whether the EU has reached the limits of expansion, if only for the present time. As yet there is no consensus on Europe and its future. A brief examination of the background of the EU might here serve to clarify some of the similarities and differences between past history and current circumstances.

The Development of the European Community - the Founding Years

In many European nations at the end of the Second World War, movements arose that aimed to prevent future wars and to overcome the nationalism that had proven so disastrous in the first half of the century. The founding in 1949 of the Council of Europe and its dedication to the goal of human rights represented the first formal convergence of European nations toward this end.

In 1950, Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister, suggested merging the Western European mining industries in order to create a common market. The Schuman Plan, as it became known, was actually based on the proposal put forth by the head of the France's General Planning Commission at the time, Jean Monnet, who served as president of the Schuman Plan conference in Paris. One year later, six nations – France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands – signed a treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). For the first time, elements of national sovereignty were transferred to a supranational institution, called the High Authority (and later renamed the Commission). The High Authority assumed the functions of planning and control on behalf of the member nations, and the ECSC thus became the framework for the founding nations to link their economic interests with their long-term political goals.

Europe Divided, Stagnation, and Initial Expansion

This early vision of a common European political union, however, was shattered by the emerging antagonism between East and West. The early idealism was replaced instead by the reality of a pragmatic and functional trajectory of European integration, fuelled largely by economic concerns. Against the background of the Suez Crisis, the six ECSC member nations entered into hard negotiations that culminated in the signing the Treaty of Rome in March 1957 and the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC). In addition to the customs union, the Treaty provided for the free movement of persons, services and capital. The member nations also agreed to join forces in the research and development of atomic energy under the aegis of Euratom, the European Atomic Energy Community. Despite these agreements, what were to become significant differences in the envisioned course of action had already begun to emerge.

Thus, for example, Great Britain, which had first sought entry to the EEC in 1961, proposed an initiative to consolidate the EEC with the OECD to create a major free trade region. This proposal, however, was opposed by the continental European nations, in particular France. As a result, the process of European unification stagnated through much of the 1960s. With his repeated veto of British accession to the EEC, the French president, Charles de Gaulle, put the brakes on the progression of the Community. By withdrawing France's members from Council meetings and leaving the Council unable to reach a quorum, de Gaulle thus helped precipitate what was termed the "Empty Chair Crisis”.

In 1965, a decision was reached to consolidate the European Coal and Steel Community, the EEC and Euratom. The three communities were thus joined under a number of common administrative institutions, including the Council and the Commission. However, it was not until the 1969 summit in The Hague that the course toward further deepening and expansion of the community was set. In 1973, Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined the Community. Twenty-two years after the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, this was the first of six expansions to the Community to date. .

Reform Discussions and the Expansion to the South

This first expansion was followed by lengthy debates, often hampered by national sensitivities, on institutional reforms and other aspects of communization. As a result, the earliest calls for a "two-track Europe” were issued by supporters of integration in hopes of bridging the status quo. Ultimately, an agreement was reached on future EC funding, and budgetary authority was assigned to the Council and the European Parliament. In 1979, the European Monetary System (EMS) was finally established.

Two years later, in 1981, Greece was admitted, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986, which brought the expansion to the south to a temporary close. This wave of admissions changed the nature of European unification, since it marked the first instance of inclusion of countries that had only just emerged from the yoke of an autocratic regime to establish democratic rule. This new challenge was accompanied by important reforms by a strong European Commission under the presidency of Jacques Delors. The principle of majority rule in the Council was strengthened, and the role of Parliament was enhanced, culminating in the adoption of the Single European Act in 1987.

End of the East-West Conflict and the Copenhagen Criteria

After the implosion of the Eastern block, the newly transformed nations were drawn to the success of the Western community of integration. The next expansion of the EC took place in the course of German unification, when the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany in October 1990. In 1993, an agreement was reached in Copenhagen regarding membership criteria for the future entry of the Central and Eastern European nations. Still in force as the basis of membership eligibility, the Copenhagen criteria require applicant states to have institutions guaranteeing democratic governance and the rule of law, a functioning market economy, and to demonstrate the willingness to take on the entire body of legislation of the European Communities and Union (acquis communautaire). More recently, an additional criterion has come under heated debate, namely the capacity of the Community to absorb further integration.

The Maastricht Treaty and the Fourth Expansion

The Maastricht Treaty, formally called the Treaty on European Union, entered force in late 1993. The Treaty was the most far-reaching agreement between member nations to date, and included a framework for cooperation in the sphere of security and foreign policy as well as the sphere of domestic policy and law. It also called for the establishment of monetary union by the close of the century, and the promotion of the Schengen Agreement on the removal of internal border controls. Following brief membership negotiations, the citizens of Austria, Sweden and Finland were thus persuaded to join the Union in 1995.

The Euro, the End of the Division of Europe, and Growing Pressure for Reform
In 1998, the EU entered negotiations with six applicant states – Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary and Cyprus. Beginning in 2000, negotiations also commenced with Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia. During this great wave of expansion, which culminated in 2004, new reforms proved difficult to establish. The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam and the 1999 Treaty of Nice introduced a High Representative for EU Foreign Policy and established a variety of amendments and improvements to procedure and detail. For example, one amendment made it possible for member nations to follow their own timeline for integration. In 2002, the Euro currency was introduced. The expansion of 2004 thus heralded the end of the formerly divided Europe. On January 1, 2007, Romania and Bulgaria joined the Union, marking the culmination of the latest round of expansion.

Limits of EU Expansion and European Identity

In retrospect, the process of European integration has been an interplay between periods of dynamic progress and phases of stagnation. Although the merging of Western and Eastern Europe may initially have been a historical imperative, today the union must also stand for the acceptance of political responsibility in the international sphere. Thus, for example, the Balkan Wars drastically demonstrated to Europeans the limitations of their capacity for action. Since June 2000, all states of the Western Balkans have been accorded the status of potential candidates for EU membership. During the process of stabilisation and the creation of partnership, much will depend on the candidate states' willingness to abandon nationalism and reconcile differences. In 2005, the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia was the first Western Balkan nation to attain the status of potential candidate to EU membership. The final outcome of the negotiations underway with Turkey since October 2005 will also determine the concept of Europe that will ultimately prevail.

Frens Stöckel

Frens Stöckel is a political scientist currently employed as a journalist and editor. His focus is on topics surrounding issues of European integration, foreign policy ...
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