With explosive echoes, twenty years ago the expression of the big bang to describe the imminent enlargement of the European Union to the east did not go down well in Brussels. There were many fears that weighed on the operation that added ten countries to the club, increased its territory by a third, added 75 million inhabitants and only five extra points of wealth. Today, the term has become normalized in academic circles and, on the verge of celebrating its twentieth anniversary, the great expansion of 2004 is remembered as a historical promise fulfilled, an economic success and an incentive to reopen its doors.
Like millions of Europeans, the president of the European Parliament, the Maltese Roberta Metsola, remembers perfectly where the night was between April 30 and May 1, 2004. “In the port of Valletta, looking at the sea, we counted the minutes and the seconds that remained until Malta together with Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the EU as member states. I will always remember that shared feeling of limitless possibilities, hope and faith in the future.”
The dream of generations of a united Europe had come true. “The future, suddenly, was limitless,” Metsola recalled at the commemorative event held in the European Parliament last week, during which he emphasized the “transformative effect” of EU accession. “Now, a generation later, it is the people of Ukraine, the Western Balkan countries, Moldova and Georgia who look to Europe with the same sense of hope and belief in our common future.” Now like ten years ago, or when the integration of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia years later, Europe cannot look away,” she defended.
Freedom, mobility, cooperation and security are some of the terms evoked by the ten young people born that May 1 invited to participate in the celebration, which brought together some of the national politicians and senior European officials who piloted that operation. Romano Prodi, the president of the Commission that closed the entry negotiations with the Ten, declared himself “moved” by the ceremony and the achievements achieved. “That was also a complicated time and we worked hard to make it happen without tension or problems. It was a great achievement achieved through cooperation, a lot of patience and a constructive spirit,” he recalled.
How did you do it? How did you convince people to vote in favor of the EU in the accession referendums? several young people asked the venerable politicians of the time. The response of the former Prime Minister of Hungary, Péter Medgyessy, served to remind us that membership in the EU has not been a perfect shield against authoritarian and ultranationalist drifts. “We achieved it in the first place because the people of Hungary have always felt European and we were fulfilling their will. The second reason may sound surprising, but it is that we believe that your sovereignty is stronger when you are a member of the EU and being sovereign makes Hungary stronger.” Both Medgyessy and his counterparts Leszek Miller and Vladimír Spidla, in Poland and the Czech Republic, paid the cost of adopting the economic reform agenda demanded by the EU and left power shortly after their countries joined the club.
The World Bank has sometimes referred to the EU as “an economic convergence machine” and the data on the effects of the great eastern enlargement attest to this. All the countries that joined in 2004 are richer today. Their gross domestic product has increased by 80%, thus halving the gap that separated them from the Fifteen. Its unemployment level has been reduced by half and its agricultural production has tripled, according to the Commission. Fears of a migratory avalanche were not confirmed, although the countries that opened their doors fully on the first day, the United Kingdom in particular, did register greater arrivals.
“The main objective of the big bang was to ensure freedom, peace, a social market economy and democracy in countries that had just escaped decades of suffocating communism. In this sense, in general, the enlargement has been a resounding success,” agrees Jules Maaten, regional director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, linked to the German socialist party, which supported the transition of these countries to democracy, who nevertheless sees problems. and lessons to learn. “Cyprus remains divided and the rule of law and even liberal democracy are weak at best in some countries, especially in Orbán's Hungary,” highlights Maaten, who regrets that European governments are not willing to hold their colleagues accountable and He believes that Brussels has allowed itself to be “blackmailed” by Orbán. “The European Commission has disappointed citizens who counted on the EU to promote the rule of law,” he concludes.
In her speech in Strasbourg, the president of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, highlighted the “economic miracle” that accession to the EU meant for these countries. “But you have also made Europe stronger and enhanced our response to the geopolitical challenges we face,” she stressed. “What happens in Ukraine will define the future of the Union forever,” stressed Von der Leyen, who called for intensifying military assistance to Kyiv and recalled the commitments made.
“The decisions we make in the coming days, weeks and months will decide who wins the future of Europe. Let us remain united with Ukraine and be ambitious in enlargement and reforms. “This is how we will make the European promise a reality once again,” Von der Leyen advocated. “This event is a reminder that the EU has successfully enlarged in the past and our message must be that we will do so again in the future,” concluded former European Parliament President Pat Cox.
