European Union 2004 Eastern enlargement: introduction of new procedures?

Abstract

The Bachelor's thesis "Eastern Enlargement of the European Union: Implementation of New Procedures?" examines the changes to criteria for new member accession, particularly members from Central and Eastern Europe. Enlargement to the East was the fifth sequential enlargement of the EU although due to the large number of applicants from post-communist states it was necessary to implement further procedures, to change pre-accession strategy and to state further conditions for candidates in order to become full-value members of the European Union. The thesis first addresses the history of EU enlargement in the 1970s and in the early 1990s. The second part, the largest part of the thesis, examines the process of Eastern enlargement of the European Union and describes the first interaction between Central and Eastern Europe and the European Community through signing association agreements, implementation of the Copenhagen criteria, opening of accession discussions up to the accession of ten new EU members in 2004 and a further two in 2007. The final part of the thesis is the analysis of the question of why these changes have to take place and the identification of fundamental differences