ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to analyse EU enlargement policy based on the last two enlargement rounds of 2004 and 2007, to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It outlines how the EU developed its accession policy in answer to the events in CEE of 1989 leading to the end of the Cold War. The chapter deals with the first consequences of the process. It focuses on the current and future enlargement developments in the southern and eastern part of the continent. The chapter provides an overview of the main debates and fields of research within the European Union (EU) enlargement literature. Enlargement has been a permanent item on the agenda of the EU. The enlargement waves of the EU in the 1970s and 1980s were not characterized by a streamlined procedure. While holding the carrot of membership and of financial support, which the candidate countries are eager to obtain, the main instrument the EU uses in its accession policy is conditionality.
