EU Enlargement for the Czech Republic a Great Chance and a Dreat Risk
EU-Enlargement for the Czech Republic, a Great Chance and a Great Risk Christian D. ... The president of the first Czechoslovak Republic T. ... There is no doubt, that the accession into the European Union will mean great political and economical benefits and stabilization in security for the Czech Republic and the other ECE-candidates. On the other side, joining the EU too rapidly might have more negative than positive consequences for the Czech Republic. Since political, economical transitions and development are not finished, it could be argued that the Czech Republic would become a second-class EU member. ... 3 million inhabitants and an area of 78,866 km2 the Czech Republic pretends to be one of the middle-sized ECEs like Bulgaria and Hungary. Its GDP/capita was about 12,498 ECU in 1999, the second tightly after Slovenia, with a 59% of the average of the EU-member states. ... Trade balance with the EU was equalized with a light surplus of 0. ... Geographically, the Czech Republic is called the ¡§roof of Europe¡¨. ... The ¡§Golden Prague¡¨ comes from the first republic in the 1920s and 1930s, in which this country was under the ¡§top ten¡¨ of the world¡¦s most developed industrial states. The forty-year period of a communist regime meant a break, a standstill for this ambitious country, exploitation and the elimination of great ideas and perspectives signify this dark chapter of this country¡¦s history. ... EU¡¦s behavior. Based on the first enlargement experiences, the EU takes nowadays a tremendous amount of specific measures for accession like the Agenda 2000. The general attitude is that the benefits of enlargement will more than outweigh the costs. According to the ¡§Enlargement Strategy and report on the progress of the candidate countries¡¨ of the European Documentation Center, presented by the Commission in its report of November 8th 2000: ¡§the prospect of accession ƒË¡KƒÍ helped the candidate countries to develop into stable democracies. Enlargement will raise the standard of living ƒË¡KƒÍ and enhance their competitiveness at international level. ... A further positive effect will be the ¡§stimulation of economic growth and investment and trade opportunities with non EU-Countries¡¨, like Russia or the Ukraine. Heather Grabbe argues in her article ¡§Set a Date for Enlargement Now¡¨ (CER Bulletin 15), that the EU has no clear strategy, demanding a ¡§political leadership at the highest level for enlargement to happen¡¨. The main advantage of a fixed date is ¡§the longer entry is delayed, the more the prospect of EU membership will lose credibility¡¨ and that ¡§none of the EU¡¦s problems would be solved by not enlarging¡¨ (CER Bulletin 15). Grabbe sees the advantage of Enlargement that under these circumstances the EU has the unavoidable need to make necessary, fundamental reforms, then to focus ¡§on adopting the creaking structure for the current fifteen countries, rater than on establishing a durable framework for an EU of 25 or 30 members¡¨ (CER Bulletin 15). But is it really the right way to use Enlargement as a tool to solve the EU¡¦s internal problems? ... Another point is the ¡§ceiling on the total costs of enlargement¡¨ (The Observer), which should keep the risk of enlargement accountable. In ¡§The EU Must Start Thinking Enlarged¡¨ with Martin Brusis and Janis Emmanouilidis, Grabbe estimates that there is a general agreement of a ¡§comprehensive security policy¡¨, ¡§reinforcing solidarity¡¨ and ¡§ensuring democratic stability¡¨ (The European Voice 7/45).