The proposed enlargement of the European Union will not only affect the countries involved in the enlargement process, but also third countries, in particular developing countries. The enlargement will affect trade, investment, aid and migration flows between the EU and developing countries. While a lot of research has been carried out on the effects on the countries involved in the enlargement process, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects on third parties.  

A sector that deserves special attention in this context is agriculture. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU has increased trade protection, while domestic subsidies have led to over-production, exported at relatively low prices. Agricultural exporters from developing countries fear that EU enlargement will further increase trade protection and raise subsidies in the acceding countries thereby enhancing “Fortress Europe” and will therefore negatively affect them. On the other hand, the CAP is now being gradually reformed, to comply with the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture and as part of the EU’s Agenda 2000.  

This section provides information on research that has been carried out on EU enlargement. The section is organised as follows:

EU enlargement: implications for developing countries:

• EU enlargement and agriculture

• EU enlargement and trade and investment

• EU enlargement and aid

• EU enlargement and migration

EU enlargement: implications for the EU and Eastern Europe:

• EU enlargement in general

• EU enlargement and agriculture

• EU enlargement and trade and investment

• EU enlargement and aid

• EU enlargement and migration

Relevant links

Countdown

An initiative run by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies which provides information and documentation concerning the eastern enlargement of the European Union. The search engine helps to track research documents which deal with the internal and external implications of the enlargement process.  

TRIALOG

A NGO project to raise awareness of North-South issues within the enlargement process. The site deals with the external impacts of the EU enlargement as well as the impacts on the Central and Eastern European Countries.

euintegration.net

A site supported by the German Bertelsmann Foundation and the World Bank. The site mainly deals with the internal aspects of the enlargement.

The World Bank and the EU Enlargement

This site gives an overview of the research which has been performed within the World Bank. The site mainly discusses internal matters of the integration

EurActive - Enlargement section

A hub for EU related issues, covers news, analysis, overviews and more on enlargement issues. Most documents relate to the internal implications for the EU15 and the accession countries.