Enlargement, Treaty Reform and Crises (1993-2021)

The end of the Cold War had a significant impact on the development and integration of the EU. This chapter explains how it opened up the possibility for new countries to join the EU, both through the EFTA and the Eastern enlargement processes. In turn, this widening of the EU necessitated further deepening of the integration process, which took place through a series of treaty reforms, leading to the Amsterdam, Nice, and Lisbon Treaties. However, while there was strong support for further integration among European leaders, the ratification process of these treaties, including the failure to ratify a Constitutional Treaty, signalled increasing levels of scepticism toward continued integration among the citizens across the EU. This euroscepticism increased further with both the eurozone crisis and the so-called migration crisis, and it culminated with Brexit, which for the first time in the EU’s history led to a reduction in the number of member states