Debate on the enlargement of the European Union

Abstract

The enlargement crisis of the EU has been triggered by problems related to enlargement towards the east but its roots extend far beyond that issue. To date, European integration has developed within a structure of a wealthy core territory and concentric circles around this centre. The emergence of this pattern has been driven by the dialectics of integration and expansion. But the institutional obstacles and legitimation problems linked to EU eastward enlargement indicate that very little room for manoeuvre remains for future expansion of the EU. As the expansion process reaches its limits, differentiated forms of EU integration, creating different classes of EU members, are likely to appear.