What is the eastward expansion of the European Union and the characteristics of the eastward expansi

On 1 May 2004, the European Union underwent an unprecedented expansion, considered one of the most important events since the Cold War. Ten countries, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary, joined the EU. Since April 28, 2014, these countries have held a number of events to discuss the gains and losses of the 10 years of accession, and the answer is:

EU membership alone does not ensure national prosperity. ”

The EU is expanding, and by the end of 2013, nine countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Iceland, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Moldova, were waiting to join the EU.

The European Union, the full name of the European Union, was born and developed as an event with far-reaching influence in the post-war world. On May 9, 1950, French Foreign Minister Schumann proposed the establishment of a coal and steel community with Germany. This proposal is known as the Schumann Plan.

On April 18, 1951, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the Treaty on the Establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in Paris, which entered into force on July 25, 1952. On March 25, 1957, the leaders of the six countries signed two more treaties in Rome establishing the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, collectively referred to as the "Treaty of Rome", which entered into force on January 1, 1958. The Treaty of Rome is considered to be a symbol of the official start of the European integration process.

On 8 April 1965, the six countries signed a treaty in Brussels, uniting the three communities into one and collectively known as the European Community, which entered into force on 1 July 1967. On 11 December 1991, at the Maastricht Conference, the heads of state of the European Community signed the Treaty on European Union, which established the objectives of establishing the European Economic and Monetary Union and the European Political Union, and on 1 November 1993, the Treaty entered into force, and since then the European Community has developed into the European Union.

In more than half a century, the EU has expanded five times, and the number of member states has grown from 6 to 25 today. The most recent enlargement was on 1 May 2004, when 10 countries, Cyprus, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, most of which were part of the former Soviet Union's sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, were admitted as members"

The Warsaw Pact went bankrupt and its member states joined the European Union.

The characteristics of the EU's eastward expansion include:1Expand the market size:

Eastern European countries that have joined the EU have large populations and potential consumer markets, providing broader development opportunities for EU member states. 2.Economic disparities:

The economic level of Eastern European countries is relatively low, and there is a clear economic gap between them and Western European countries, and after joining the European Union, they need to achieve economic transformation and development through economic reform and financial assistance. 3.Social Transformation:

Eastern European countries often need to reform their political, legal and social systems before joining the Ounay Potato Alliance, in line with the standards and values of Kinsun EU member states. 4.Labor Mobility:

After the accession of Eastern European countries to the European Union, their citizens enjoyed the right to free labor movement and could work and reside freely within the European Union, which led to the phenomenon of labor mobility and population migration. 5.Geopolitical implications:

The accession of Eastern European countries has expanded the EU's geopolitical influence, allowing it to play a more important role in regional affairs.

The European Union (EU) expanded eastward twice. The first eastward expansion took place in 2004 and involved the accession of eight countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. This expansion brings the number of EU member states to 25.

The second eastward expansion took place in 2007 and involved the accession of two countries, including Bulgaria and Romania. This brings the total number of EU member states to 27. The purpose of these two eastward expansions is to promote the unification of the European continent and enhance the integrated development of the region, and to expand the influence and scope of cooperation of the European Union.

It is important to note that the eastward expansion is not limited to the above two times, and the EU has since admitted Croatia (which joined in 2013), Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia as candidate members, and may continue to expand eastward in the future. The process of eastward expansion requires the candidate countries to meet a series of political, economic, legal and other conditions, and reach an agreement in negotiations with the EU.

The situation is as follows: the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland joined.

On 1 January, Greece became the 10th member of the European Community.

On 1 January, Portugal and Spain joined, bringing the number of member states of the European Community to 12.

On 11 December, Austria, Sweden and Finland joined the European Union, extending to 15 countries in the Maastricht Treaty on European Union, which entered into force on 1 November 1993.

On November 18, the foreign ministers of the 15 European Union held a banquet in Brussels and decided to invite ten countries, including Malta, Cyprus, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, to join the European Union On May 1, 2004, ten new member states officially joined the European Union.

On January 1, Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union.

The EU expanded eastward twice. The first eastward expansion was born in 1986 and included Eastern European countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgarian bridge, Romania and Slovenia. The second eastward expansion took place in 2004 and included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary.

The main purpose of the EU's eastward expansion is to promote economic development, strengthen internal cohesion, and maintain the stability and security of Europe.

France (1950), Italy (1950), Netherlands (1950), Belgium (1950).

Luxembourg (1950), Federal Republic of Germany (1950), Ireland (1973), Denmark (1973).

United Kingdom (1973), Greece (1981), Portugal (1986), Spain (1986).

Austria (1995), Finland (1995), Sweden (1995), Poland (2004).

Latvia (2004), Lithuania (2004), Estonia (2004), Hungary (2004).

Czech Republic (2004), Slovakia (2004), Slovenia (2004), Malta (2004).

Cyprus (2004), Bulgaria (2007), Romania (2007).

The main thing is security.

With allies further east, it is possible to move further away from Russia.

At the same time put more pressure on Russia.

After joining the EU, CEE countries should be able to obtain full market access. This means that in the future, the eastward expansion countries will enter the European unified market, on the one hand, expanding the number of exports of the best products in the region; On the other hand, it can effectively attract foreign investment. In addition, joining the EU will also help Central and Eastern European countries to accelerate the adjustment of industrial structure, expand foreign development, create jobs, increase national income, improve the level of science and technology, etc., which can be said to be a great benefit.

While the EU's eastward expansion has benefited Central and Eastern European countries, it has also brought many negative effects to them.

Not all Central and Eastern European countries can benefit from the different stages of the EU's eastward expansion, and the eastward expansion countries that have just joined the EU may reap various benefits, but also must abide by the EU's policies and regulations of more than 97,000 pages, many of which will weaken the original competitive advantage of the eastward expansion countries to a certain extent. The current common employment and labour policies in the EU will inhibit the future development of SMEs in CEE countries. However, the EU has so far failed to formulate criteria for judging disorderly competition in the labor force, let alone further explain how to legislate without causing disorderly competition in the market.

The EU's unified employment and labor policies have greatly weakened the competitive advantage of the eastward expansion countries in terms of low labor costs, and once the eastward expansion countries improve the working conditions and wage levels of their workers in accordance with the unified EU regulations, it will inevitably increase the production cost per unit of product. In this context, domestic enterprises in CEE countries have generally adopted business strategies of laying off employees and increasing efficiency. On the one hand, enterprises improve the working conditions and wage levels of existing workers and improve production efficiency; On the other hand, in order to ensure the reduction of product costs, a large number of redundant personnel in the enterprise are simply reduced.

This has led to a surge in unemployment in the expanding countries, where the unemployment rate in the most unemployed Central and Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Slovenia, has risen to around 20 percent.