ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the variables 'boundary' and 'power' in the process of European integration, having regard to the distribution of power among the European Union's (EU) member states, the power of the Union as a whole, and the power relationship between the Union and the rest of the world. It focuses on the consequences that the proposed boundary re-drawings would have on the EU's internal equilibria. The chapter suggests that the proposed re-drawing of the EU's eastern boundary would consolidate Germany's economic and political leadership of the Union and thus have considerable implications for the distribution of power within the Union. The Mediterranean Free Trade Area, which will include the 15 EU member states and the non-EU Mediterranean countries plus Jordan, also contains, from the EU's perspective, an offensive trade promotion element. Of all contemporary theorists of international integration, only Karl Deutsch and his associates have paid systematic attention to the role of boundaries.
