How do you feel about enlargement? Do you think the European Union should continue to expand and accept new member states? If so, what do you think should be the criteria for accession? Are you afraid that Turkish workers would come and join the Polish workers in Western Europe?

"To improve the demographic situation in the EU it has to accept new member states."

I believe that European Union does not have an alternative and, therefore, it should definitely enlarge. The problem is that the population of Western Europe is an aging one, not even reproducing itself. Without the influx of new workers and more young people it will be impossible to sustain the present standard of living in EU.  

"Common goals must also be established..."  

Personally, I am not scared of cheap labour coming into rich Western European Countries. I believe this can push competitiveness and lead to better prices for Western European consumers. Therefore I critisize most old EU members to still keep their borders closed for new EU member states workers (except for the UK, Ireland and Sweden).

As for Enlargement, I believe the EU should concentrate on the institutional process rather than getting more member states on board. Indeed, what is needed overall is an institutional reform.... That should be the main focus for the next 10 years - therefore, I believe the next enlargement of the EU (including Turkey I hope) should not happen before EU institutions are reformed. Common goals must also be established.... (all the things I wanted while the EU only counted 15 member states - therefore my view might remain a dream forever). Gabriel, Belgium

"I feel disappointed about the enlarged EU." 

The more I look back at the evolution of the European Union, the more I tend to think that the EU of 12 (or 15) should have stayed as it was. I don't really fear a slowdown of the economy or a wave of immigrants, I feel it more as a matter of identity. I think the new EU with 25 members is too big and, more important, too distant from the people. In my case, a far away concept in which I find it very difficult to feel implicated.

And about the rules for admission... Maybe a good way would be to open the borders and economic EU space to new countries rather easily, but keep them away from the EU political system, to then see how social issues evolve and keep a certain operability in the decision making process, which is now stuck with so many new members. But again, this is such an intrincate matter to be put into a few lines!"

Merry Xmas and best wishes for the coming year! Andres, Spain 

"It is not possible to “unite Europe” immediately." 

I believe that ultimately all European nations have an undeniable right to become a part of a united European state. West Germany did have a moral obligation to unite with East Germany after the Berlin Wall fell. The German re-unification has not brought the West Germany economical gain, yet noone would argue that the re-unification should not have taken place. The West Germans felt solidary with their brothers in the East, as a result of having a common identity. There was no way that arguments about the difficulties arising from the transformation of the East German economy and society would prevent the Wiedervereinigung from happening.

There are however signicant differences between the European Union enlargement process and the German re-unification. Firstly, mutual identification between East and West Germans was much higher than there is among Europeans. Secondly, the German re-unification was a one-off act, whereas the European Union has been enlarging ever since it was created.

Therefore, it is not possible to “unite Europe” immediately, because there would be little popular support for it. In my opinion, the middle-aged people, unlike their parents, have a little appreciation for Europe in general because they no longer see the Union as something which guarantees peace in the Continent. In addition, the “Generation Erasmus” still needs time to fully assert itself.

Moreover, it would be highly impractical to perform the enlargement at once. The transition of East Germany has showed us that a hasty enlargement can cause more harm than good. The relations between the “Ossis” and the “Wessis” are tense; with the Westerners wary of subsidising the East and the Easterners fed up with being treated as second-class citizens. Politics of fear is being employed as we speak to scare the ordinary people by the imaginary hordes of Polish plumbers; Lithuanians are alienated by not being allowed into the Eurozone on a technicality, Czechs are angry at being refused an early entry to Schengen. We are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of Europeans.

We must learn from our mistakes in the past in order to conduct a better enlargement process in the future. One of the main problems with the enlargment is the very word itself. Indeed it triggers a feeling that we are “adding something extra” to what already was a fully functioning body. Every enlargement is therefore seen as providing an unnecessary event likely to worsen the current state of affairs, rather than as an opportunity for everyone. I therefore suggest that the term “enlargement” is replaced by the word “unification”: we are not enlarging Europe, we are unifying it! This will consequently make the accession process viewed much more positively, with the uderlying assumption that it is in fact necessary for Europe to be unified.

Reframing the issue would bring real world advantages for Europe. First of all, Europe would be no longer able to avoid defining its own borders. No more time would be wasted by endless talks on whether a country X should be ever allowed to start the accession negotiations. All European countries would be given a clear signal that if they work hard, they will make it one day. Needless to say, this approach would make the European “carrot” much more effective. Nowadays it does not function too well in countries like Serbia or Ukraine, where the EU membership appears to be too illusive. Even bolder would be to integrate the non-EU European countries into a common, visa-free body of sorts. However, for the time being, that remains a utopia. Tomáš, Czechia 

A case of shortsightedness!  

Enlargement, currently is the main fear of the EU, after experiencing the negative results of the recent enlargement. That‘s why the period of enlargement from 15 to 25 member states provides a really significant experience for forecasting the potential problems of following enlargements, in case they happen in the future. In this article, I just want to give my opinion about the EU‘s enlargement policy and Turkey’s situation in this progress.

As we all know, EU is the one of the most successful and important “civilization” projects in of the world, currently including 25 member countries in Europe. This project provides a common power of different cultures, economies, nations, religions and markets. Regarding this feature, we can say it covers and will cover all the colors of Europe, if the related communities meet the criteria to be a member of the union. So, for the enlargement process, the EU should consider itself as a project for providing people with both social and economical prosperity, a common economy and market, but with different cultures and religions within the region called EUROPE. In my opinion, it should continue its enlargement both to reach its aim and to be more powerful. As we can understand from the name of this union, it is a union of European countries and people that share this continent and the history that passed through this area. This is what can be shaped in my mind, unless there exists any other names or aims for this community in the future.

However, enlargement, of course, brings some drawbacks, especially with the entrance of big countries like Turkey. As a citizen of Turkey and as a person that has already been all over Europe, I can confirm that the actual Turkish population in European countries is considered as a big risk with potential problems that will be faced after the entrance of Turkey. The majority of European people have such a common belief that Turkey has to do too much to meet the criteria and can not manage to enter the EU. Actually, in order to add more value to this humanity project and to enter as a right member, we know all our responsibilities and try to continue our reforms without any pause in our progress. Even if the accession to the EU can not be achieved, the policy of Turkey has already changed and is providing prosperous circumstances to her citizens. This is the perspective of Turkey for the enlargement of EU.

However, if I consider the current perspective of Turkish citizens on the EU, it is really hard to talk about something positive. Actually, after recent rejections of the issues that suspended the progress of Turkish membership, the people started to discuss about the willingness and prejudices of the EU against Turkey’s membership. Although until now it seemed possible for Turkey to reach this aim, at the moment, the feeling and the atmosphere are already changing in Turkey. The people feel more hopeless and don’t even want to be a member of this union after they see that nothing has changed in the European perspective. Actually, about more than 50% of people are now against being a member of the EU. This is the natural result of the current policies that force Turkey to adapt each time to changing criteria, compromise several times and never get an exact promise for the future even if she tries to pursue the reforms. This is the current opinion on the EU inside Turkey.

Moreover, Turkey, being a large country in population and a small one in economic terms, should also be considered not only as a bridge from Europe to Asia, but also as a bridge between Christianity and Islam. Even though it is not a description of the EU, but because it includes mainly a majority of Christian citizens, the entrance of such a country including mainly Muslims will add a great value to the EU’s perspective all over the world, and Turkey will even be a great step to reach Asian communities. Beside these, the resources such as mines, energy and especially the young brains will accelerate the EU’s improvement in the future. It is right that, because of being a big country and having a population of about 70 million (and a predicted 82 million in 2015) even more than the largest country in EU, the entrance of Turkey frightens many people in Europe. It is clear that she will be the country with the largest population, which means that she has a great power of using democracy. However according to my belief, even if too many workers immigrate to Europe from Turkey, the entrance of this country lying on two continents, is necessary both for cultural reasons and for the improvement of Europe. The people may be afraid of this incoming large country with less economical power today, but in the future, in order to produce more, a young Turkey with a more powerful economy will be really necessary for aging Europe. So, it is always better to think about long-term benefits and cooperation, instead of being afraid of immigration and potential differences between the two parts. I believe the EU will be more powerful with its varieties inside.

To sum up, there can be even more criteria from the European Union for the newcomers to this society, the entrance of Turkey should not be stopped or suspended. As I mentioned above, Turkey as having already affected the European history and as a mosaic of Europe and Asia, should enroll in this great civilization project. The actual and upcoming reforms and the great intention of this country should not be blocked according to the recent anxiety and short-term policies of some countries. It is really a critical issue that can be discussed by both parties in order to accelerate this project’s future progress, and to have such a cultural mosaic that has already existed in Europe’s history for thousands of years. Turkey’s entrance will open a new page in the history of EU with all its resources and cultural treasures. Resentment and changing direction on the Turkish issue would be a big mistake of the short-sighted politics of Europe for the moment. Omurden, Turkey.

In nearly all EU countries there exist some social security schemes, operated by the government. In order to get this money, government has to gather taxes from the working people. Without getting new labor force, the tax load on one worker would constantly increase, because the number of retired people would be twice (or even more) as high as the number of the woking force. Without the creation of private pension funds and private health insurance funds, the situation will continue to deteriorate (but the creation of such funds is a rather complicated issue, which would contradict the policy of a “welfare state” of major EU countries (like Germany or France).
To improve the demographic situation in the EU it has to accept new member states (as it has already done with Poland, Bulgaria, Romania etc.) I think EU citizens should not be afraid of new labor force coming. However, I would suggest to apply stronger criteria in order to make the entrance on the labor market easier for skilled workers and more difficult for unskilled ones. Olga, Ukraine