Continental Congress

In view of the first anniversary of expansion to Central, Eastern and Mediterranean Europe, Cameron Stewart in Valletta writes for The Australian about it's significance for the European project. He writes that "after just 12 months, the new-look EU is still a nervous work in progress. New and old members are exploring the limits of their power." From the Australian:

This ambivalence does not reflect a sense of forboding that one of Europe's grandest post-war gambles – the expansion of the EU from 15 to 25 member states – has failed. Rather, it reflects an uncertainty about what this new giant will mean, both for the debutants of eastern Europe and for powerhouses such as France and Germany. This ambivalence is also being driven by a growing sense of confusion about what it means to be European. Where do the racial and geographic boundaries of Europe lie with the EU rubbing up against the former Soviet states of Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus and as far south as Malta and Cyprus, which are only a short sail from Tunisia and Lebanon respectively?..

The EU's expansion has not paralysed the decision-making process in the way some critics had predicted; it was already cumbersome to begin with and the new member states have so far made decision-making more difficult by degrees rather than by a quantum leap. In part this is because the 10 new EU members have been surprisingly low-key on issues that do not directly relate to them, preferring to leave the heavy negotiating to the old guard, especially the powerhouses of Britain, France and Germany. "These new states are quiet, they don't say much around the table," one British EU official says. "They tend to watch in silence rather than debate a point loudly.".. Although the new EU nations have so far refrained from taking an aggressive stand on most issues, they are expected to become more assertive as their confidence grows..

These new eastern members are also more pro-US than many states such as France and Germany, and are wary about plans for a more autonomous EU defence capability, fearing that this would dilute NATO's influence and therefore US military influence in Europe. Despite these differences, critics say the greatest victory of the first 12 months of the expanded EU is that there have been no great disasters given the size of the task of swallowing 10 new members.
"There will be no fanfare on May1," Cameron says. "But people do not appreciate the size of the transformation of eastern Europe. EU membership will fundamentally change those societies.
"Europe has never before been united under democracy like this. We've had Europe under Napoleon, Hitler and Attila the Hun, but we have never had it united under democracy like it is now."