Western Balkans – Stephen Kinsella

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Economics of EU Integration Lecture 10: Political Economy of Enlargement

17/11/2008 | Stephen Kinsella | Teaching, EC4333 | Common Agricultural Policy, Enlargement of the European Union, EU, European integration, European Union, Lisbon Treaty, Member State of the European Union, Nice Treaty, Politics, Union, Western Balkans

In this lecture, we will introduce students to the institutional, legal and political context of enlargement within the EU, and preview and examine the fifth enlargement's likely effects. We will examine the preconditions for reform, and develop a simple model of development, trade policy, and mobility.

Over the weeks we've seen a series of increasingly analytical approaches to exploring European integration. This week we'll look at putting two approaches together: a descriptive, political economy framework for describing the system as a whole, and an analytical model describing the potential effects of trade policy on integration for the accession countries.

In May 2004, 10 new countries joined the EU, and Bulgaria and Romania became members in 2007. Croatia, Turkey and Macedonia are candidate countries. The EU is considering the possibility of further enlargements to countries in the Western Balkans, which could eventually include Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania.

European Union, showing member states, populat...

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The ongoing EU enlargement process raises fundamental questions about the future of the Union. Will expanding membership lead to a change in identity of the EU? Is widening on this scale compatible with deepening? Will the EU be condemned to endless arguing about the relative size of contributions to and receipts from the Community budget? Will an expanded membership require fundamental changes in EU economic and cohesion policy and the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 (when a new financial perspective begins)? Will the Lisbon Treaty be ratified, and will it provide the EU with an institutional framework that enables it to avoid deadlock in decision-making, and at the same time increase its transparency and democratic accountability? The EU is committed to further enlargements, but where should its borders end?

Lecture Slides