ABSTRACT

One of the persistent puzzles of regional integration is the connection between enlargement and internal reform. The academic literature has not yet come to any conclusive judgement on how the two distinct forms of institutional evolution – the so-called processes of widening and deepening – are interrelated. This neglect is surprising since the European Union has often faced these challenges simultaneously. One example is the second southern enlargement, which more or less coincided with the conclusion of the Internal Market Programme and the Single European Act.