Enlargement Of The European Union

Question 1

Treaty of Rome article 232 stated what

Answer 1

Any EU country can join

Question 2

First 4 enlargements were relatively straightforward.

5th was more complex. What was the 5th

Answer 2

CEECs (central and Eastern European countries)

+ Malta & Cyprus

Question 3

What was the main thing to consider

Answer 3

Optimum size of EU

(Too much is harder to come to a decision)

Question 4

Accession countries were assessed by EU. Also pre-accession agreements to phase into these countries into the EU

Question 5

What was the main issues (2)

Answer 5

Formally centrally planned economies transitioning into market economies.

Nature of the EU - changing from generally small poor countries.

Question 6

How was transitioning to market economies hard from a firm perspective (5)

Answer 6

Hard to price a company
Hard to sell shares - no shares and no stock market No banking system
No business laws (e.g copyright, property rights)
FDI hard - exchange rate was articifical, issues with foreign ownership (still an issue today)

So 5th enlargement was hard!

Question 7

Copenhagen Summit 1993 criteria for countries to join the EU (3)

Answer 7

Functioning market economy
Democratic political system
Acceptance of acquis communautaire

Question 8

Forces behind enlargement

Answer 8

The benefits from economic integration

Question 9

The benefits from economic integration (3)

Answer 9

Comparative advantage
Trade creation (but possibly TD) e.g export within EU & less bureaucracy from EU accession
Investment +other dynamic economic benefits

Question 10

Political benefits included: (3)

Answer 10

UK view was more countries reduced the chance of greater integration (widening meant no deepening)

Reward to ex-Soviet economies to transform to western market economies

CEECs saw joining EU as a way to break away from Russia and achieve growth through trade & FDI.

Question 11

Widening v Deepening debate :
2 approaches to enlargement

Answer 11

Classical (first 4 enlargements)

Adaptive method (2004 enlargement)

Question 12

Adaptive perspective - was EU currently progressing at 1 rate

Answer 12

No - variable geometry (multi-speed EU)
Meaning not all country is in every policy

Question 13

Schengen Agreement, Maastricht treaty

Answer 13

E.g England didn’t adopt the Euro, hence a multispeed EU (variable geometry)

Question 14

Argument against widening - So what did the Enlargement create

Answer 14

Even more variable geometry (more countries that weren’t applying every rule)

Question 15

Theory of clubs:

Answer 15

More members, MC falls initially then rises, optimum size M* is where MB and MC intersect.

MC shifts downwards for institutional changes & actions by new states (reforming the union)

MB can shift upwards e.g greater benefits from trade e.g more export opportunities

(for essay - improve single market by making trade easier can shift MB up.. could use in essay)

Question 16

What does theory believe

Answer 16

Widening and deepening is possible

Question 17

Subsidiaries principle

Answer 17

Decisions should be made to as close to the people as possible (localised the decision making) as more efficent

Question 18

If subsidiaries principle exists, what happens for MC curve

Answer 18

May shift it downwards

Question 19

Eblargent issues for EU

Question 20

Poor new members issue

Answer 20

20% rise in EU population, but the New 10’s GDP was only equivalent to Netherlands put together

Question 21

3 C’s were required for EU institutional reform (cause a fall in MC)

Answer 21

CAP
Cohesion
Control

Question 22

Nice treaty

Question 23

Voting rules Pre-Nice treaty (pre-2004)

Answer 23

Qualified majority voting (weighted voting)

Bigger members have more votes. Need about 71% votes to win

Question 24

Lisbon treaty came: what was the rule called

B) and the 2 requirements

Answer 24

Double majority - approval requires

Requires
55% of member states must approve, protects small states (from big countries pg 25)
65% of EU population, to protect the big states (from lots of small country members wanting change pg 26)

Question 25

Outcome of Lisbon treaty

Answer 25

Rules were very effective - probability of a measure coming through increased

Question 26

Effect of Lisbon treaty on theory of clubs

Answer 26

MC shifts downwards (since more institutional reform)

Question 27

So probability of measure passing rises with more states, what does this suggest

Answer 27

EU25 is still below the optimum size regarding decision making