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Tumpel-Gugerell, Gertrude --- "On the threshold of the 2004 EU enlargement" [2004] ELECD 161; in Liebscher, Klaus; Christl, Josef; Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris (eds), "The Economic Potential of a Larger Europe" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: The Economic Potential of a Larger Europe

Editor(s): Liebscher, Klaus; Christl, Josef; Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843769620

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: On the threshold of the 2004 EU enlargement

Author(s): Tumpel-Gugerell, Gertrude

Number of pages: 8

Extract:

16. On the threshold of the 2004 EU
enlargement
Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell1

On the threshold of the accession of ten new member states to the European
Union, this contribution reviews, in a selective manner, the enlargement
process and explores some of the challenges involved in the imminent widen-
ing of the European Union. There can be no doubt that enlargement is a
major achievement in the history of European integration. In fact, a few
years ago, it could not be taken for granted that the accession process would
be completed as smoothly as this now appears to be the case.
While accession to the European Union is a fundamental accomplish-
ment, it is clearly not the end of the integration process. In the area of eco-
nomic and monetary policies, accession marks in fact, in many respects, the
beginning of integration. It is therefore obvious that the prospective mon-
etary integration of the new member states is increasingly moving into
focus, as enlargement is coming closer. The communication of the ECB and
the Eurosystem on this issue has been frequent and encompassing (see for
example Padoa-Schioppa, 2003).2 Most recently, the `Policy position of the
Governing Council of the ECB on exchange rate issues relating to the acced-
ing countries', released in December 2003, has consolidated into a single
comprehensive policy text the previous positions of the Eurosystem on the
matter. This position paper, which is available at the ECB website in all
official Community languages, lays out the ...