Paper Supervisor : Dr. Sekou Conde
            Minzhu University of China
            2006-2007 Academic Year

The idea of unity is present in the European culture, so there are always proposals of building a whole Europe. However, it’s a hard work because the west and east Europe are divided by the war historically. The process of Europe integration has to be finished by the EU enlargement. This paper focuses on what the EU Enlargements bring, and the process of Europe Integration to find the future of the EU.
(1) The idea of unity in European culture and formation of EU.
Since the fall of the Roman Empire, the idea of unity has been present in European culture. Since the early modern period, proposals have been made for unions of European states in some form, from the 19th century as unions of nation-states.
The creation of the predecessors to the present European Union was however specific to the years immediately after the Second World War. The disastrous course of World War II and the high death toll, gave a strong impetus to plans for some form of union of states in Europe, to prevent future wars and facilitate post-war reconstruction. The following is the process of EU formation.
On 9 May 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presented his proposal of a united Europe, known as the Schuman declaration, which is considered to be the beginning of what is now the European Union.
On 23 July 1952, The Treaty of Paris entered into force establishing the Europe Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Founding members were six countries, which were known as the initial members of EU, the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), France, Italy, and West Germany.
In 1957, the ECSC members established the European Economic Community, which later became the European Community (EC) which was the former form of EU.
On 1 November 1993, the Maastricht Treaty took effect, formally establishing the European Union. The Europe Community was taken place by the EU. The establishment of the European Union expanded the political scope of the European Economic Community, especially in the area of foreign and security policy, and provided for the creation of a central European bank and the adoption of a common currency, the Euro.
(2) The developing relationship between East and West Europe in EU enlargement.
At the beginning of EU, all its members are from West Europe, but the situation has changed during the process of the EU Enlargement since the fifth enlargement. The two part of Europe are divided by war. After generations of division and war, the European Union is peacefully unifying Europe.
In July 1997 the Commission of the European Union presented its Agenda 2000. This document not only suggested starting accession talks with some East and Central European countries (CEEC) in early 1998. This enlargement had first and foremost a political and strategic dimension for its importance in reunifying Europe, As the Central and East European countries become EU members in 2004. The relationship between east and west Europe is developing well through the Europe integration.
(3) The process of EU enlargement. The enlargement of EU continued for many years. There are six Enlargements of EU from 1973. The first enlargement, in 1973, brought in the UK, Ireland and Denmark. On 1 January 1981, Greece joined, and Portugal and Spain joined the union together on January 1, 1986. Austria, Finland and Sweden became members on 1 January 1995. The largest expansion occurred in 2004 with 10 new countries joining. They were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus. This enlargement of the EU has been the most ambitious in the history of the European Union: the largest ever in terms of number of countries and population acceding to the EU; the most complex, as it brought in the EU ten countries which had experienced very diverse economic, social and political developments. 
The last enlargement occurred on January 1, 2007 with the Accession of Romania and Bulgaria. This date was set at the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003 and confirmed in Brussels on June 18, 2004. The country reports of October 2004 also affirmed the January 1, 2007 date of accession for both Bulgaria and Romania. The Treaty of Accession was signed on April 25, 2005 at Luxembourg's Neumünster Abbey. The September 26, 2006 monitoring report of the European Commission confirmed the entry date as January 1, 2007. The last instrument of ratification of the Treaty of Accession was deposited with the Italian government on December 20, 2006 thereby ensuring it came into force on January 1, 2007.
Romania's strategic geopolitical location will influence the EU's policy towards its relations with all of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Turkey and Asia. In the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) .Romania has an opportunity to demonstrate its leadership in the region. 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.
Officials consider Romania to be both a part of Central Europe and a part of SEE. This reflects the Romanian government's dual ambitions today of strengthening Romania's chances of Euro-Atlantic integration while also being seen as a leader and a zone of stability and democracy in its immediate neighborhood.
The enlargement continues. On 15 December 2008 The Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius will become part of the Netherlands as special municipalities, and will thereby also become part of the European Union. This mini-enlargement will be the first enlargement that happens entirely outside Europe.

I. The analysis of the fifth EU Enlargement

(1) The reason for the Eastward Enlargement of EU.
All the enlargements are for the interests of the whole Europe and have their impacts to the EU. Of them, the fifth enlargement is the most important one, featured with the largest one and the first extension towards central and east Europe. One of the aims of EU Enlargement is to fulfill the Europe integration, which will bring stability and security. Europeans have never felt so strong a desire for unification and prosperity as now. Economic integration in the past decades has paved the way for and justified their efforts towards a stronger Europe on the international arena.
As Joschka Fischer put it: “Following the collapse of the Soviet empire, the EU had to open up to the East; otherwise, the very idea of European integration would have undermined itself and eventually self-destructed. Why? A glance at the former Yugoslavia shows us the consequences, even if they would not always and everywhere have been so extreme. An EU restricted to Western Europe would forever have had to deal with a divided system in Europe: in Western Europe integration, in Eastern Europe the old system of balance with its continued national orientation, constraints of coalition, traditional interest-led politics and the permanent danger of nationalist ideologies and confrontations. A divided system of states in Europe without an overarching order would, in the long term, make Europe a continent of uncertainty, and, in the medium term, these traditional lines of conflict would shift from Eastern Europe into the EU again.” So the idea that there could forever be two Europe, a democratic, stable and prosperous Europe, and a less democratic, less stable and less prosperous Europe, is totally mistaken. It resembles a belief that one half of a room could be heated and the other half kept unheated at the same time. There is only one Europe, despite its diversity, and any weightier occurrence anywhere in this area will have consequences and repercussions throughout the rest of the continent.
Enlargement will extend the EU stability and prosperity to a wider group of countries, consolidating the political and economic transition that has taken place in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989. By enhancing the stability and security of these countries, the EU as a whole can enjoy better chances for peace and prosperity. After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, a strong and united Europe is more important than ever before to ensure peace, security and freedom.
Enlargement is thus a continuation of the EU’s original purpose of healing Europe divisions and creating an ever-closer union of its peoples. By welcoming new members who respect its political criteria, the Union is re-stating the fundamental values that underpin it.
(2) The process of the fifth enlargement.
Whatever we think, the process goes on. 9 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the accession negotiations began in 1998 with the first candidates, but without having fixed a date for their end. This is in line with the basic principle of the negotiations, i.e. that countries should join when they are ready. However, as the negotiations progressed, it became clear that progress was being made. Therefore, the European Council in Nice in December 2000 agreed that the negotiations for membership could conclude by the end of 2002 with those candidate countries which fulfill all the criteria for membership.
   On 9th October 2002, the European Commission [...]

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