ABSTRACT
The end of cold war at the close of the twentieth century marked a new era. The search for a new world order which was to replace the bi-polar system began in earnest. A series of developments that took place in regard to what is often called European integration in the 1990s can be understood as Europe's response to the search for the new order. The then European Community adopted the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and transformed itself into the European Union as if to demonstrate the will of the member states for an ever closer union. The Single Market then came into being; Europe was now the largest market in the world. Former communist countries applied for EU membership and started negotiation. Some member states started to argue for the case of a European single defence policy in the face of tragedies in the Balkans. In the early years of the twenty-first century, the single currency, the euro, came into circulation. Ten countries joined the EU in 2004. Europe seemed to be moving in towards one direction: some sort of unity supported by economic co-operation. Academic interest in the issue of a European identity and its implications were rekindled. The issue was now closely tied with democracy and citizenship, an aspect of the process of European integration the European Commission began to pay more attention (Eder and Giesen 2002).
