Abstract:
This document will be focused on the analysis of the operating processes of the European Union and
its enlargement policies. During the years the European Union, founded by 6 countries, has
expanded continuously and it is now composed by 28 countries. Only a few European countries are
not part of the EU, some because they prefer not to be part of it and others because they need to
meet some criteria before joining the Union. It is interesting to notice how, in recent times, there is a
growing idea in some member states of the feeling that they might be better off without the EU. At
the same time is happening the opposite in non-EU countries, such as those of the Western Balkans.
In fact, in these countries there is hope that joining the EU there will be more possibility to reach a
higher level of quality of life, this with the help of EU funds, open market and free movement of
people regulations.
In the last years the EU started working more and more with the Western Balkans countries with
several projects and important diplomatic initiatives (e.g. Berlin Process). Not only we will study
more in debt how this part of Europe is performing, both from the economical and political aspects,
but we will also try to understand what this region means for EU’s security and its long run strategy.
Since we want to understand how being a member of the EU affects the economy of a country, we
will research and study how the EU has impacted some of the countries that are already part of it.
We will do so, not for all the countries that are already part of the EU, but only for those with similar
characteristics to the ones of the Western Balkans (e.g. Bulgaria, Romania etc..).
We will analyse some important data for these countries such as foreign trade, unemployment rates,
public debts, inflations etc...
Furthermore, a special attention will be paid on the case of Macedonia, this country has been a
candidate for the EU membership for more than a decade now. However, its membership has
always been vetoed by Greece. That is because of an unresolved dispute about the name of
Macedonia. Now things have changed. After decades of no progress in the matter, these two
countries have now finally reached an historical agreement on the dispute, which has been ratified
in both countries in January 2019. So, soon Macedonia (the now named Republic of North
Macedonia), will be able to join NATO and start the negotiations for the EU membership. We will see
what this could mean for Macedonia and for the prosperity of the entire region, in fact these two
countries will soon start an economical cooperation that could potentially open new markets and be
of great opportunity for many
