Monitoring European Integration 3: Is Bigger Better? The Economics of Enlargement

This Report examines the enlargement of the European Community to include the EFTA members and the Central and East European Countries (CEECs). It considers first the significant economic benefits to the EFTA countries of concluding the EEA Agreement and their political and economic motivations for applying for full EC membership. It contrasts the negligible gains to the EC from the EEA with the substantial gains from the EFTA countries' full membership. It examines the likely time-period and extent of EFTAn enlargement, predicting an EC of 17 by 1996