Watt, A. (2014) “Europe’s Underappreciated Success: 10 Years Of Post-Enlargement Convergence“, Social Europe Journal, 05 Μαΐου.
On May 1st 2004 ten countries joined the EU in the biggest enlargement of the Union to date. Moreover it was a step heavy with symbolism. Eight of the ten – the exceptions being the two Mediterranean island economies Cyprus and Malta – had until just over a decade earlier been part of the Warsaw Pact and indeed, in the case of the Baltic states, part of the Soviet Union itself. There was considerable fanfare in the media about the healing of the historical East-West rift across the European continent. In some cases immediately, in others with a delay, west European labour markets were opened to people from the new member states seeking employment. Two further eastern European countries, Bulgaria and Romania, followed in 2007, amid greater concern about these countries’ poverty and democratic credentials.
Given all this, what is striking about the tenth anniversary is that it appears to have been widely ignored by the media. The English language newspaper with the best European coverage, the Financial Times, has not reported on it at all as far as I can tell. In the German print media I was hard pushed to find anything beyond a short piece on Poland in Die Zeit.
Σχετικές αναρτήσεις:
- Jouen, Μ. (2014) “The Single Market and Cohesion Policy Dyad: Battered by the Crisis and Globalisation“, Notre Europe Policy Papers, 28 Απριλίου.
- Panagiotarea, El. (2013) Greece in the Euro, ECPR.
- European Commission (2013) “Member States’ Competitiveness Performance and Implementation of EU Industrial Policy report 2013“, European Commission, 25 Σεπτεμβρίου.