Eastern Enlargement : The Sooner, the Better?

After completion of the internal market and the introduction of the euro, the European Union put Eastern enlargement on the agenda for the new millennium. When the enlargement process was started in 1997, it was aiming at the stability and prosperity for the entire European continent. The envisaged integration into the single market, and eventually into monetary union, mark important milestones in the reform efforts of the Central and Eastern European Countries. Apart from the legal and institutional setting, the accession process puts much emphasis on economic convergence. Major questions posed in the conference, held in Vienna in June 2000, were: Can the reform momentum in accession countries be sustained in the face of public fears concerning the resulting consequences for the existing Community? Should politicians strive for early enlargement, regardless of the widely differing state of transition?