Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Best, Edward; Settembri, Pierpaolo; Christiansen, Thomas --- "Introduction" [2008] ELECD 268; in Best, Edward; Christiansen, Thomas; Settembri, Pierpaolo (eds), "The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union

Editor(s): Best, Edward; Christiansen, Thomas; Settembri, Pierpaolo

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847203458

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Best, Edward; Settembri, Pierpaolo; Christiansen, Thomas

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

1. Introduction
Edward Best, Pierpaolo Settembri and Thomas
Christiansen

The `big bang' enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004, with two
further member states joining in 2007, had been long anticipated and there
had been many concerns about the possible impact that this would have on
the EU. At least three intergovernmental conferences had been convened to
prepare the Union for it, resulting in the Amsterdam Treaty, the Nice Treaty
and the abortive Constitutional Treaty. And yet, when the new members
joined on 1 May 2004, there was still a sense that the institutional structure
of the EU was ill equipped to deal with the much larger numbers of players
and the more diverse range of interests.
As the months and years after May 2004 passed, the big debate about the
possible impact of enlargement was overshadowed by the larger
`constitutional crisis' of the Union after the non-ratification of the
Constitutional Treaty, and the debates about renegotiation of the treaty
and a refocusing of the Union on achieving `results'. However, enlargement
was not just a moment in time, but a process that brought in a permanently
increased membership of the Union, and thus the question of what impact
this may have (had) on the EU remains. It is against this background that,
in the context of a collaborative research network, the contributors to this
volume set themselves the task to investigate empirically and systematically
the precise nature of any changes related to the enlargement process
that can be ...