Verified Document

European Union Enlargement To Include Term Paper

These reasons and the opposition met in the public opinion must be taken into consideration by the governments of each members state and so there is a great impact over the admission of new members, such as Croatia. The date of the accession of Croatia in the European Union seems to provide great debate, not only because the country is not considered ready to join the Union, but most importantly because the EU is divided by conflicting opinions regarding the necessity or the benefit of further enlargement. The debate about Croatia's admission is not centered on the accomplishments of the country, but on the necessity of the EU to be even further enlarged.

Admitting Croatia into the European Union can represent a very important step forward for this country and an example for other Balkan nations that development can be achieved and that EU admission is desirable and worth working for. Considering the great economic boost that the 2004 wave countries have met after entering the Union, it is believed that this will also happen for Croatia or any other country joining the Union. Greater economic development and commitment to EU values will provide greater stability in the region and this is a very important part of the desires of the European Union.

Croatia has declared that is target for accession is 2009 (Avery, Batt, 2007) as it desires to meet all the EU requirement by that date. This action is doable and Croatia could accomplish great progress by that time. However, as mentioned before, the greatest obstacle is represented by the EU desire to enlarge itself again in 2009, only two years after accepting Romania and Bulgaria. One reason besides public disagreement of further enlargement is that of the economic costs that the EU would face for accepting Croatia as a member, or any other member for this matter. EU members, especially older members, are reluctant in assuming the cost of yet another enlargement.

Despite the controversy and the arguments surrounding the future enlargement of the EU, Croatia will probably become a member of the organization. The only question is when. The European Union is going through...

Besides, Croatia has yet to accomplish some of the requirements to enter the EU, many in important sectors such as justice. The further enlargement of the European Union requires extensive funding, but the budget attributed in the 2007-2014 period was not focused enough on Balkan countries. This means that there are not enough funds to sustain the enlargement of the Union in this region until 2014 when the budget will be approved. So, in order for Croatia to join the European Union until 2009, extra funding would be required.
The reports of whether Croatia will join the EU by 2010 are contradictory, as there are both pro and con opinions. However, it is more likely that Croatia will not join the EU this decade, especially after Angela Merker's declaration that there should be a pause in the expansion of the Union until 2010. Despite the efforts made by Croatia, its accession in the Union is not certain to happen by 2010 considering the opposition wave of the EU officials.

Bibliography (APA):

Accession of Croatia to the European Union, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Croatia_to_the_European_Union;

Archick, K., V.L. Morelli, "European Union enlargement," CRS Report for Congress, updated October 25, 2006, available at http://italy.usembassy.gov/pdf/other/RS21344.pdf;

Avery, G., and J. Batt, "Balkans in Europe: why, when and how?," Policy Brief, March 2007, available at http://www.epc.eu/TEWN/pdf/Balkans%20in%20Europe.pdf;

Enlargement strategy and main challenges," Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Brussels, November 2007, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/06_11_07_eu_enlargement.pdf;

Kazmierkiewicz, P., EU enlargement to the Western Balkans from the Polish perspective, available at http://www.europeum.org/doc/pdf/871.pdf;

Phinnemore, D., the changing dynamics of EU enlargement, April 2005, available at http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/esc/esc-lectures/phinnemore.pdf.

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography (APA):

Accession of Croatia to the European Union, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Croatia_to_the_European_Union;

Archick, K., V.L. Morelli, "European Union enlargement," CRS Report for Congress, updated October 25, 2006, available at http://italy.usembassy.gov/pdf/other/RS21344.pdf;

Avery, G., and J. Batt, "Balkans in Europe: why, when and how?," Policy Brief, March 2007, available at http://www.epc.eu/TEWN/pdf/Balkans%20in%20Europe.pdf;

Enlargement strategy and main challenges," Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, Brussels, November 2007, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/06_11_07_eu_enlargement.pdf;
Kazmierkiewicz, P., EU enlargement to the Western Balkans from the Polish perspective, available at http://www.europeum.org/doc/pdf/871.pdf;
Phinnemore, D., the changing dynamics of EU enlargement, April 2005, available at http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/esc/esc-lectures/phinnemore.pdf.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

European Union Enlargement When Ten Countries Recently
Words: 4223 Length: 15 Document Type: Term Paper

EUropean Union Enlargement When ten countries recently joined the 15 existing European Union (EU) member-states, the event represented the largest enlargement of the European Union in its history (Golino, 2003). One of the major perceived benefits of this union is that the countries formed an economic, political and military coalition with a combined population of 450 million people and an economy that produces approximately one-quarter of the world's annual output. The new

European Union Regional Policy the
Words: 3061 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

National economic planning was extensively accepted in postwar Europe with the French indicative planning fostering a much accepted model of the government and the private sector joining hands in the modernizing the economy. Several European economists considered that the public policy and public money could be combined to shape a greater rational and a more reasonable economic system. (Springer, 1994, p. 72) The significance of the European public policy for

European Union's Holistic Security Policy in One
Words: 1449 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

European Union's Holistic Security Policy in One of Its Neighboring Regions The objective of this study is to critique the European Union's 'holistic security policy' in its neighboring region or that of Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Russian and Belarus and to analyze this region from different perspectives including economic, political, and traditional military power. The European Security Strategy is based upon "a comprehensive or holistic approach to security" and states that

European Union or EU Is
Words: 3339 Length: 11 Document Type: Term Paper

GDP went down due to weak domestic demand, which went further down after a decline. Somehow, it again rose by 0.1% in the first quarter and appeared to have pulled the economy out of recession. But Portugal retained big trouble. In the last quarter of 2002, its GDP plummeted.8% from the third quarter and in the last quarter, it contracted by 1.3% from the previous year until the.3% in

European Union's Common Foreign and
Words: 3705 Length: 13 Document Type: Term Paper

To achieve these various purposes, NATO embarked on a series of interlocking efforts during the 1990s that were intended to provide some aspect of an overall concept of security. A series of initiatives resulted in NATO accepting new members with the possibility of still further additions in the future, crafted the Partnership for Peace and created the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council; entered into a Founding Act with Russia and a Charter

European Union Mccormick, John. The
Words: 1369 Length: 5 Document Type: Book Review

One of the phenomenal things about the European Union is its extraordinary capacity to be able to work both as a unified entity, in which all 27 voices act as one, and as a federation, in fact, of its member states. In order to be able to function in this manner, the European Union also needs functional institutions. John McCormick is keen in this part of the book to

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now