ABSTRACT
The process of accession of ten Central and Eastern European States, Cyprus and Malta and, finally, Turkey presents the European Union with a rare but also promising challenge.None of the earlier accessions of new Member States to the European Communities/European Union was quite comparable to the present accession process: • The number and size of the countries concerned, if taken together, exceeds that of earlier accessions. Without Turkey, their population is almost 30 per cent of the population of the present EU Member States (i.e. 104 million as against 374 million); including Turkey the number is close to 45 per cent.• What might be of greater importance: The prospective new Member States from Central and Eastern Europe are still in a difficult process of restructuring their industry and agriculture and of adapting them to the market economy, taking into account the Common Agricultural Policy.• The economic development and prosperity of the CEECs are far behind that of the EU-average, and even below that of the least developed actual Member States. All of the prospective Member States have a GDP/capita well below 75 per cent of the present EU average. Only the Czech Republic and Slovenia display a GDP/capita of a similar order to that of Greece and Portugal.• In addition, it must be kept in mind that the more fully developed the EU integration, the more difficult accessions will be. It is obvious that accepting the acquis presents countries with greater problems if this acquis consists of ever more rules and encompasses more thoroughly elaborated policies.
