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In-Depth Information
Maastricht Treaty. This latter treaty had three
main pillars, each of which changed the 'archi-
tecture' of the Union to which the new appli-
cants sought accession:
to join. Greece had shown an interest in joining
the Community since the 1950s, was made an
associate member in 1961, formally applied in
1975, negotiations began in 1976, and was
admitted in 1981. Portugal and Spain both
applied in 1977, but political issues prevented
them from becoming members until 1986.
Austria, Finland, and Sweden gained entry in
1995 after having applied in 1991.
Certain 'holdover' countries remain out-
side the Union. Norway applied for member-
ship in 1962, negotiations were concluded
10 years later, but referenda held in the country
in 1972 and again in 1994 failed to return
the sufficient majority in favour of entry. The
other notable West European country thus far
remaining outside the EU is Switzerland, whose
desire for neutrality (and financial secrecy)
has outweighed any perceived advantages of
membership. The country rejected membership
of the European Economic Area (EEA) and thus
the possibility of EU entry in 1995. Iceland
has also shown no interest in membership. The
one country to have actually withdrawn from
the European Union is Greenland (Kalaallit
Nunaat), which did so in 1985, having gained
independence from Denmark in 1979 (Danta
and Hall, 2000).
Turkey first applied for membership in 1987;
Morocco has also sounded out the possibilities
of accession from time to time.
While Bulgaria and Romania have been
negotiating for possible accession in 2007,
Croatia has been facing one of two political and
administrative obstacles. Turkey's application
has been reconfirmed by the EU, and the country
is optimistic of future accession (Black et al .,
2002; Woods, 2004b), although its position is
complicated by the Cyprus situation (Hall,
2000b, 2004c). At the time of writing, the
Balkan states of Albania, Bosnia, FYROM
(Macedonia), Montenegro and Serbia had yet
to begin formal negotiations towards possible
entry, but had indicated their aspiration for
membership.
The history of European integration has
thus been marked by the dual forces of change
and continuity (Danta and Hall, 2000). Periodic
changes in the nature and constitution of the
European Community or Union have preceded
periods of relative stability as the organization of
European economic, social and political systems
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU);
a commitment to a common foreign and
security policy (CFSP); and
internal
security,
including
transborder
mobility and crime.
Although the Single European Act had
marked a decisive shift towards majority voting
in the Council, and the Maastricht Treaty trans-
ferred some powers to the European Parliament,
decision-making remained something of a com-
promise between inter-governmentalism and
cooperative federalism (Williams and
Balá y ,
2000).
The second goal, 'widening', has been
pursued from the organization's inception.
The EEC consisted initially of the six members
of the ECSC: Belgium, The Netherlands and
Luxembourg (the former Benelux members),
France, Germany and Italy. However, other
countries sought membership and the Commu-
nity underwent a series of enlargements.
1st.
1973:
Denmark,
Ireland
and
the
United Kingdom.
2nd. 1981: Greece.
3rd. 1986: Spain and Portugal.
Although not a formal enlargement, the
former German Democratic Republic
('East Germany') was absorbed by virtue
of German re-unification in 1990.
4th. 1995: Austria, Finland, and Sweden.
This, the 'EFTA enlargement', was notable
for all three entrants (as members of the
European Free Trade Association) having
higher GDP per capita levels than the EU
average at the time (Edye and Lintner,
1996).
5th. 2004: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland,
Slovakia and Slovenia.
A major consideration for accession states
has been the time taken for countries to gain
membership. The United Kingdom first applied
for membership in 1961, but was vetoed twice
by the French president de Gaulle before gain-
ing accession in 1973; the same 12-year period
was also required for Denmark and Ireland
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