The Social Aspects of Enlargement

Abstract

The May 2004 enlargement has brought European integration to a stage where highly mixed expectations and sentiments are openly displayed. The step to be taken now is more controversial than any of its predecessors including the first enlargement of 1973. The uncertainties faced moreover reveal the impact of scale in societal processes – the fact that the particular spatio-temporal settings and the particular volumes will be decisive factors in determining the policy measures needed to guide the process in question.