Analyse: De la politique de voisinage à la politique d'intégration, existe-il des alternatives à l'é

La réponse à cette question posée à l’auteur Eneko Landaburu  est oui, en effet, il existe des alternatives concrètes à l’élargissement. Car il doit y en avoir. Cet article a été publié par le Centre d’études politiques européennes.

CEPS summary

Enlargement has been a key tool in projecting stability across our continent. But it is a reality that the EU cannot expand ad infinitum – everything has its limits. We must honour our present basic commitments, while strictly insisting on the criteria. One of these criteria is our own absorption capacity – it is clear that in some member states the pace and scale of enlargement is approaching the limits of what public opinion will accept. To overstretch, rather than consolidate, the Union would be detrimental not only for us but also our partners. These are all issues with which our leaders will struggle in Vienna in a few months time. 

So for us, today, the question in foreign policy terms is not really whether there is an alternative to enlargement. Continuing to view our neighbourhood from an enlargement angle is an unhelpful distraction, involving protracted and unanswerable discussions of whether or not country X or Y will, one day in the future, in a different political environment, have a realistic prospect of joining the EU. Many of those now asking for closer relations are not on track for membership or are very far from meeting its requirements. Remember the saying that you should not ask a question to which you would not like the answer.

To read the paper in full, visit the Centre for European Policy Studies website.