The Enlargement of the EU toward Central and Eastern Europe

Nationality, Ethnicity, and Security Questions

抄録

On May 1, 2004, 10 countries in Central and Eastern European (CEE) finally joined the EU. It was decided at the Copenhagen Summit of the EU in December 2002. According to that decision, referendums were held in 9 countries except Cyprus in 2003. Bulgaria and Romania will join in 2007, and Turkey, the Western Balkan countries, Norway, and Switzerland will join after that. There is already a landscape of more than 30 countries in the EU. NATO also decided that it would be enlarged by 7 new countries at the Prague Summit in November 2002, and there are 26 NATO countries from March 2004. Romania and Bulgaria joined NATO, and they are already hard at work in the Iraq War and other military operations.
What are the most important and serious issues of the enlarging EU and NATO now, especially from the viewpoint of CEE countries? In this article, the author investigates this from the following angles:
1) International Politics. After the Second World War, European Integration was unfortunately started by European division. After the end of the Cold War in 1989, the two divided Europe began to integrate. Integration and enlargement of Europe became a symbol of the end of European division. Can CEE countries really achieve this?
2) European Values and European Culture. With enlargement comes the integration of “European Values, ” and the reconsideration of “European Modernization.” For them, the enlargement of the EU and NATO is a “Return to Europe, ” that is, Christianity, liberalism, democracy, equality and a market economy. Can they integrate successfully?
3) The Economic Context and Adaptation to Globalization. About the economy of the enlarging CEE, it works well, in fact. First, investment in the EU is moving from the South (Greece and Spain) to the East (CEE), and the GDP per capita is also swiftly growing in new member countries. Now the GDP of CEE also is overtaking that of Greece and Portugal, so it looks like they might catch up with Spain and Italy in the near future. The economic axis has transferred from the South to the East.
4) The Security of Europe. Now the Security Policy of the EU (CFSP, ESDP, and the Saint-Malo Declaration) has begun to differentiate Europe from that of the US. After September 11, 2001, the US policy on security changed quickly. From that time, the center of gravity of security of the US changed from East-West Germany to the Balkans, Central Asia and the Black Sea. The strategic importance of Romania, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, and Russia increased greatly. That is, CEE was seen differently by the US and the EU. Romania and Bulgaria are on the periphery of the economy of the EU, but they are most important strategically for the US.
5) CEE countries. Now they have started to assert themselves. In the 1980s, the idea of Central Europe (as opposed to Yalta: the Conflict system) was asserted by the anti-establishment CEE intelligentsia. During the 1990s, their governments and regional cooperation worked successfully, and they were able to join the EU and NATO. Before the Iraq War in 2003, they declared their support of the US, and got Rumsfeld complimented them, saying “New Europe.” CEE countries such as Poland used their position as US supporters in tough negotiations with the EU. The author investigates these problems.