Uniting Europe

With the 2004 enlargement, the European Union (EU) has expanded to twenty-five member states and a total population of 450 million. The new Union faces a daunting policy agenda that includes finalizing the controversial European Constitution, managing further enlargement to countries in southeastern Europe, deciding whether to offer membership to Turkey, overcoming strains over trade, environmental issues, and policy toward the Middle East to build a new, post Cold War relationship with the United States, and making sure that the enlargement itself is a success. In this timely and accessible text, John Van Oudenaren explores how a political and economic union this large and diverse can hold together and accomplish the policy tasks that matter to its citizens: sustaining economic growth, dealing with aging populations and the costs of pensions and health care, raising living standards in poorer regions, preserving the environment, coping with the problems of immigration and political instability on Europe's borders, and facing the challenges of globalization. To reach these goals, the author argues that the EU must build on its existing achievements: the single market, the common currency, and harmonized policies. At the same time, the Union must reform its decision-making processes and find ways to balance the needs of its member states and the competing demands of different interest groups. How the EU will evolve is still unclear; there is no precise blueprint for its future. But the historic attempt to unite Europe will have enormous implications not only for Europe itself, but for the United States as a key ally, trading partner, and, on occasion, rival. By providing an overview of the Union's institutions, laws, and policies, Van Oudenaren provides a solid foundation for understanding its history and emergence as a global economic and political power.

In this timely and clearly written text, John Van Oudenaren traces how the original six-member common market evolved into the twenty-five-member European Union (EU) with its growing array of policy responsibilities. Providing an accessible overview of the institutions, laws, and policies of the Union, he chronicles the EU's emergence as a global economic power and its efforts to assert its political presence on the world stage. The author argues that the federalist aspiration to create a _United States of Europe_ has died but that the drive to union persists in other forms. In the coming years, the EU will be challenged by a daunting agenda that includes making a success of the 2004 enlargement, improving the lagging performance of the EU economy, ensuring the continued success of the euro, finalizing a European constitution, and reconciling the desires of the member states to protect elements of their sovereignty with the widespread goal of achieving a more cohesive and effective foreign and security policy. A new chapter deals specifically with the contentious EU-U.S. relationship and the efforts of policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic to build an effective partnership, notwithstanding strains over trade, the Kyoto Protocol, the war in Iraq, and other divisive issues.

John Van Oudenaren is chief of the European Division, Library of Congress, and adjunct professor, BMW Center for German and European Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.