Enlargement of the EU: Dynamics and Problems

the European Union is definitely going to enlarge Eastward. The negotiations are likely to get started in tandem in both Malta and Cyprus, i.e. six months after the conclusion of the intergovernmental conference (IGC) in Turin. Following the deliberations of the Florence Council of June 1996 the IGC will have to finalise its draft proposal by the end of 1996, which gives ground for hope for completion by the second quarter of 1997. In other words, enlargement talks may already be underway in 1998, with the first new members acceding around 2002-2003. The latter date would imply that the fastest Eastern members will have waited for 12 years, i.e. as long as Britain, Denmark and Ireland, whose joining the EU was generally considered an extremely lengthly and controversial process. This is going to be the fourth enlargement of the EU. As was documented in the previous cases, any such step ha