The greatest success of Europe s external policy has been EU enlargement.

The EU can continue muddle along with its one size fits all policy of enlargement lite in the region.

On May 1, 2004, I celebrated EU enlargement with my students.

Much sets us apart EU enlargement, agriculture, and domestic market issues.

Further EU enlargement is undoubtedly in Turkey s interest, and in Europe s, too.

One danger of the recent setbacks is a halt to EU enlargement.

Politicizing EU Competition Policy

EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Štefan Füle insists that enlargement is progressing, but the western Balkans remains a fragile region, defined by mutually antagonistic nationalisms, incomplete state formation, deep and pervasive patterns of corruption, and endemic economic mismanagement.

The EU can continue muddle along with its one size fits all policy of enlargement lite in the region. Or it can work harder to turn balancers into joiners.

Before enlargement, it was politically incorrect to discuss possible waves of migration to the West, as EU politicians saw this as an obstacle to the enlargement process.

The 2004 European Union (EU) enlargement stimulated useful exchanges of information but full harmonization was considered difficult.

EU enlargement brought greater prosperity, with living standards improving throughout the Union, particularly in the new member states.

Before enlargement, it was politically incorrect to discuss possible waves of migration to the West, as EU politicians saw this as an obstacle to the enlargement process. Now that enlargement has taken place, it is easier to discuss migration objectively.

Instead, EU enlargement is being carried out according to what might be described as the principle of asymmetrical integration.

Ten countries joined the fifth enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004, having fulfilled the Copenhagen Criteria that contribute to institutionalizing EU standards for governance and public administration.

If Europe's social market model is to survive enlargement, it must find a way to expand eastward with the EU.

The collateral damage for EU foreign policy is also significant.

The Commission s own report on Turkey, prepared by Günter Verheugen, who was then in charge of EU enlargement, shaped my decision.

Since the enlargement of the EU large numbers of migrant workers have arrived in the Netherlands from central and eastern Europe.

Nor should today s uncertainties become an excuse to call into question the need to continue and complete the process of EU enlargement.

The most recent stage of EU enlargement last May added millions of Roma from the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe.

If the EU continues to be governed under the Treaty of Nice, there will be no room for further political integration or enlargement.

The EU bet here is that, on the back of Croatia s accession, the enlargement logjam in the western Balkans will finally be broken.

Both NATO and the EU have been forced to redefine how they function and rethink their purposes after a dual process of enlargement.

And the development of EU military capacities and EU security policy is an important factor in European and global security.

Previously, EU policy was to isolate Belarus, which itself was seeking isolation.

This means that EU policy must be tailor made for individual countries.

EU environmental policy has thus become a core area of European politics.

The enlargement of NATO and the EU has embraced a dozen or so states in Central and Eastern Europe and in the western Balkans.

But, as these institutions mature, a more coherent EU foreign policy should emerge.

Its policy of opting out keeps Britain on the sidelines of the EU.

Romania welcomes the recent confirmation of such a policy by the EU Council.

There is ample evidence from earlier enlargement rounds of the transformative power of the EU to democratize and Europeanize states in advance of their accessions.

Now a policy of enlargement enlargement of the core of market economies and democratic States is being launched. To our mind, however, this presupposes the abandonment of all vestiges of the policy of containment and an ever stronger involvement of these countries in a true partnership.

Britain has continued to support EU enlargement, closer links with Turkey, and development in Africa, but it has not launched any creative initiatives to bring other member states along or change the terms of the EU debate.

On the contrary, it should finalize further enlargement the economic crisis has clearly demonstrated that the EU cannot afford black holes on the map of Europe.

It is also experiencing a profound economic crisis, which erupted around the same time that the Lisbon Treaty aimed at accommodating EU enlargement was finally approved.

Olli Rehn, EU Enlargement Commissioner, has stated that if Serbia and Montenegro continue to fail to hand over Karadžić and Mladić, those talks could be suspended.

How much worse can things get before the EU abandons its counter productive policy?

No policy area better illustrates this EU preference for talk over action than Pakistan.

The EU accession process has also underpinned a shift in Turkish policy on Iraq.

The EU is diligently echoing the criminal policy of collective punishment imposed by Israel.

In other words, this strategy is compatible with EU accession only if the EU strengthens its own capacity for concerted action on foreign policy.

The process of enlargement will either be delayed or stopped completely, because the EU can no longer admit new members on the basis of the Nice constitution.

Enlargement fatigue entered the European political lexicon in the wake of the dramatic failures of the French and Dutch referenda on the EU Constitutional Treaty in 2005.