The new EU members: Engine or retarders of European integration?

On 1 May 2004 ten additional countries joined the European Union. This year Bulgaria and Romania followed suit. With 27 nations the EU, with more than 500 million people, is the world's largest federation of states and economic area. Three years after eastwards expansion, it is time to draw some first conclusions. Have the expectations been fulfilled? What political and economic problems are the new members facing? What effect has expansion had on the EU? These were questions discussed at a conference organised by the Akademie für Politische Bildung, Tutzing, in conjunction with the Osteuropa-Institut, Munich, from 15 to 17 June 2007 under the leadership of Wolfgang Quaisser. Wilhelm Kohler, University of Tübingen, asserted that the question of the benefits of EU expansion for the old EU members cannot be clearly answered from a perspective of growth theory or from an empirical perspective. He did not wish to raise the spectre of an "eastward expansion as a growth retarder", but conversely to expect - following the motto that "trade is good for growth" - that eastward expansion will bring major, long-term growth impulses for existing member states is, taking a sober look at the situation, rather naïve. We must not forget that most of the prerequisites for growth lie in the hands of the national governments. The marginal effects created by this or that expansion of the EU will only be of secondary importance, at least in the long term. Christian Arndt and Anselm Matthes, Instut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW), Tübingen, dealt with the effects of offshore activities on German firms. In their analysis, three different datasets indicated to them that the major portion of foreign operations of German firms were motivated by opening up new markets.