Analysis of EU 15 to 27 Extension

Security mode moves eastward (welfare)

The EU put forward "export stability", pushing the border of the security and stability model in Western Europe eastward.

At the beginning of World War II, the founders of Eurocopter had to solve the German problem, maintain social stability and prosperity in Europe, and resist the expansion of the Soviet Union. The drastic changes in eastern Europe eased the threat from the former Soviet Union, but also brought new security risks. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, ethnic conflicts in Eastern Europe intensified, regional conflicts occurred frequently, and border disputes occurred frequently. The resulting problems such as illegal immigration, transnational crime and terrorism have directly affected the way of life in Western Europe. European policy makers believe that their own mechanisms for maintaining security and stability should be applied to neighboring countries that may cause unrest, so as to prevent unstable factors from threatening the EU way of life. Therefore, they put forward "output stability" and pushed the boundary of the security and stability model in Western Europe eastward.

The eastward shift strategy of security mode further squeezed Russia's strategic space. The EU will explain to Russia that EU enlargement means more business opportunities and greater economic benefits for Russia. However, the rise of the EU is, in the final analysis, the rise of a development model and social system. After the accession of Central and Eastern Europe, the EU will be in power closer to Russia, which will have a direct and indirect impact on Russia's development and security.

The eastward shift of the security model also means the strengthening of the influence of the EU on Central and Eastern Europe and the challenge to the global security strategy of the United States. Security cooperation between the new member States and the EU will greatly increase. In the long run, their security dependence on the United States and NATO will gradually decrease, and the EU will gradually get rid of NATO and become an independent force different from the United States in the world security pattern.

The second aspect of EU enlargement is the expansion of democracy and human rights values in Western Europe, which is also the expansion of western values. The spiritual pillar of EU's eastward expansion is value recognition. The member states of the European Union believe that they have the same foundation and emphasize this value. The expansion of value power has no boundaries, and it can penetrate into other international affairs beyond the borders of the European Union. Central and Eastern Europe's value recognition of the EU will make the EU more confident to apply its value power to other international affairs, express its views on democracy, human rights, social justice, religious freedom and other issues more frequently, and may even take different actions: when opposing the unilateral military actions launched by the United States, it may put forward its own opinions or take different actions, or it may be more active to comment on social phenomena in other countries, or adopt a dialogue or adopt a critical attitude.

The EU has expanded not only products and ideas, but also the European way of life.

We should not only know and understand this mature value identity and its complete set of theories, but also improve China's socialist value system according to China's historical development logic and the best interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, so as to make it a soft force for people all over the world to understand, sympathize with and support China's reform, opening up and development.

The third aspect of EU enlargement is the expansion of economic integration. Central and Eastern European countries can share the prosperity of Western Europe by joining the EU. This kind of sharing is not only manifested in figures, but also in the sharing of western European mode, which is a mode of production with many standards. That is to say, with the enlargement of the European Union, the application scope of the "Four Freedoms" principle implemented by the European economy is also expanding, especially the application scope of laws, mechanisms and policies related to the "Four Freedoms". The external standards formulated by the European Union have also extended to Central and Eastern European countries.

In a word, the enlargement of the European Union is an interrelated whole of security, values and economy, which are hierarchical. The expansion of the security field should be limited, the expansion of the economic field has no boundaries, and there are principles at home, but it is different outside, and there are not many restrictions on the expansion of the same value. From these three aspects, the EU has expanded not only products and ideas, but also the way of life of Europeans. This expansion will make the EU more confident and promote itself.

Consequences of excessive EU expansion

Excessive expansion after the end of the cold war

In June of this year, 5438+ 10, the International Monetary Fund lowered the economic growth forecast of Germany, the largest economy in Europe, from 1.5% to 1.2%, calling the process of German economic recovery "slow and fragile". She also warned Italy of "slow economic recovery" and suggested that Italy strengthen financial supervision and adjust its economic structure.

There are many factors contributing to the European Union's economic difficulties today. However, we must pay attention to one thing: since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1989 and the end of the "cold war era" in Eastern Europe, the EU has over-expanded in the former Soviet Union and the former Eastern European countries in just a few years, which has brought her immeasurable future troubles.

As we all know, in 1950s, the European Union's predecessor, European coal and steel isomorphism, European economic isomorphism and European atomic energy isomorphism, was jointly founded by six countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy and West Germany. Following 1972, Ireland, Britain, Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Spain have successively increased to 12. All developed countries have different levels of economic development, but they belong to the same level, so it is easier to coordinate the economic policies of various countries. 1992, they established a unified internal market and renamed it the European * * * body; 1 993165438+1October1,the Maastricht treaty came into effect, and the European community changed its name to the European union, committed to formulating foreign and security policies and strengthening cooperation in judicial and domestic affairs. 1 99565438+1October1,the EU has absorbed Sweden, Finland and Austria, and its member countries have increased to 15. They are all developed economies, which can coordinate the monetary policies of various countries, establish the European Central Bank, and launch the "Euro" with the same currency in early 1999.

This problem began with the fifth expansion of the European Union in 2004. In the first stage, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus and other countries were added 10. In 2007, Romania and Bulgaria joined the second stage of the fifth expansion. In just four years, the number of member countries has increased by 12, and most of them are members of the former Soviet Union and former eastern European countries with developing economies.

Excessive expansion leads to backwardness.

On the one hand, member countries at different levels of economic development must coordinate their economic policies and narrow the economic development gap in order to maintain economic integration and even monetary integration. On the other hand, the EU continues to move towards European political union ambitiously. The Lisbon Treaty, which is similar to the European Constitution, came into effect on June 5th and February 6th, 2009. As a result, when the global once-in-a-century financial crisis and global economic recession broke out, the unprecedented external shocks suffered by the EU triggered unprecedented internal tension and centrifugal force. Recently, the differences between Germany and other member States on how to help Greece overcome the debt crisis are a microcosm.

In the past few years, the rapid expansion of the European Union to the former Soviet Union and the former Eastern European countries has been roughly synchronized with the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to the former Soviet Union and the former Eastern European countries, which is the strategic deployment of the western powers headed by the United States to deal with the "post-Cold War era." "extremes meet." In international geopolitics, the excessive expansion of NATO has begun to be resisted and countered by Russia. In the international geo-economy, the excessive expansion of the EU makes it lag behind the recovery pace of other important countries or regions in the world.

Strauss, president of the International Monetary Fund? Kahn suggested that the EU strengthen policy coordination, strengthen financial supervision and adjust the economic structure, and hoped that the EU would continue to promote the process of regional integration and overcome the problems in the process. However, in practice, the EU still needs to "make up the lessons of history and pay back the debts of history"-mobilize internal resources to help developing member countries narrow the gap with economically developed countries as soon as possible, reduce internal tension and enhance their ability to resist external shocks.