The Boundaries in the Enlargement of Europe

CONCLUSION
Looked at from a Western European perspective, major expectations about the EU enlargement can be roughly summarized as follows: geo-political solution of the post-Cold War divide, economic expansion, political and cultural re-alignment towards western-styled democratic institutions, re-assessment of the EU institutions and ideals. These expectations carried out by the enlargement negotiations brings the redefining and the shifting process of the European Union's existing boundaries. As Friis and Murphy points out, the ways in which the EU handles its boundaries - maintenance, strengthening, blurring or movement - impact on its relations with outsiders. Conversely, these also have effects on governance in the EU. (Friis and Murphy 1999) However, hegemony of the EU states in the negotiations still goes on forcing the applicant states adapt their discourses to the needs of membership. The searches for the "other" still continues in order to form an European identity.
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