| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The following points have been clarified :
1. The next enlargement of the EU differs form previous one in a many aspects. One can points out not only the number of applicant countries but also, for instance, inconsistency of the EU policy towards the Central and Eastern European Countries, influence of the external factors such as Bosnia conflict or Kosovo crisis, with special reference to the security of the European continent, necessity of institutional reform on the EU side, etc.
2. The Eastern enlargement seems to be a central issue of the next enlargement, but the Southern enlargement towards Mediterranean countries such as Malta, Cyprus or Turkey is also very important and these two process are balancing the next enlargement of the EU.
3. The EU could not succeed to reform its institutions by signing the Amsterdam Treaty. But at Nice European Conference which had been held in December 2000, a minimum compromise has been reached on the institutional reform on the assumption that the EU may be composed of 27 states, and the Nice treaty has been signed in February 2001. This small step will lead to welcome new member states within few years.
4. In an enlarged EU, the number of small and medium member states will be much bigger than big states such as France, Germany or the United Kingdom, which hope to keep their initiatives in the European integration. To prevent the bigger state's intervention and to preserve small state's interests, small states like Benelux countries have to make much more efforts to promote a federal type of European integration.
In conclusion, these findings leads to say that the new European political system is now in consideration with the next enlargement process of the European Union.
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