Publications of Balázs, P.

A Nyugat-Balkán európai integrációjának kérdései

The accession of Romania and Bulgaria on 1 January 2007 had relatively little impact on the structure of the European Union: the number of its member states increased by all of 8% and its total population by some 6%, while its combined economic output grew by scarcely 1%. The change was thus far less significant than a mere three years earlier, on 1 May 2004, when the then 15-member European Union expanded to 25 members, thereby seeing its total population increase by 18% and its combined economic performance by some 5%. Prior to the “big” enlargement of 2004, the developed countries of the European Union primarily feared the harmful effects of price and wage differences between the old and new member states. They believed that a huge migration of labour from the cheaper eastern reaches of the expanding zone of integration would be triggered in a westerly direction, while productive capital might be relocated within the union from the older member states to the new investment markets, lured by their comparatively low wages and other costs. These expectations turned out to be unfounded, however, partly because the EU-15 countries were able to employ temporary restrictions to arrest or prevent undesirable market developments.1 In addition, a seismic change was also avoided because the movement of both capital and labour is determined by a set of conditions that takes many factors into account.

Issues of European Integration for the Western Balkans

The accession of Romania and Bulgaria on 1 January 2007 had relatively little impact on the structure of the European Union: the number of its member states increased by all of 8% and its total population by some 6%, while its combined economic output grew by scarcely 1%. The change was thus far less significant than a mere three years earlier, on 1 May 2004, when the then 15-member European Union expanded to 25 members, thereby seeing its total population increase by 18% and its combined economic performance by some 5%. Prior to the “big” enlargement of 2004, the developed countries of the European Union primarily feared the harmful effects of price and wage differences between the old and new member states. They believed that a huge migration of labour from the cheaper eastern reaches of the expanding zone of integration would be triggered in a westerly direction, while productive capital might be relocated within the union from the older member states to the new investment markets, lured by their comparatively low wages and other costs. These expectations turned out to be unfounded, however, partly because the EU-15 countries were able to employ temporary restrictions to arrest or prevent undesirable market developments.1 In addition, a seismic change was also avoided because the movement of both capital and labour is determined by a set of conditions that takes many factors into account.

Románia és Bulgária az Unióban

Negotiations over the process of eastward enlargement of the European Union broke the applicants down into two groups in the course of the talks: eight countries subsequently joined in 2004 (along with the two Mediterranean island states), while two countries took longer to complete their acquis chapters and thus saw their accession delayed until 2007. As a lull in the further expansion of the EU can be expected to occur after the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, the two stages of this most recent enlargement will probably be analyzed and evaluated as a single, connected event, similar to the southern enlargement, which also occurred in two phases (in 1981 and 1986). In a political sense this conflation may be justified, but from the economic and institutional perspective there are interesting dividing lines. Romania and Bulgaria represent something novel compared to all the earlier new members, and not only in terms of their economic development and distinct cultural characteristics; their appearance in the European integration process also marks the beginning of a qualitative change. The article addresses the individual features of the two new member states, as well as the changes their accession brings in the EU, primarily in terms of economic convergence and with regard to institutional aspects.

Európai egyesülés és modernizáció

European integration and modernization

Az Európai Unió külpolitikája és a magyar-EU kapcsolatok fejlődése

EU Foreign Policy and the development of Hungarian–EU relations

Magyarország az Európai Unióban

European integration and modernization

A kényszerházasság nem játék!

Körkérdés az EU csatlakozásról