European Union Takes First Step To Enlargement

The European Union has taken its first major step towards opening itsborders and institutions to the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe (the CEECs). Once complete, the enlarged EU will form a single market, which will stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, and comprise nearly 500 million citizens - and consumers.

Monetary Union Now Looks Unstoppable Within this free-trade zone, and by the time enlargement finally occurs, EU consumers will most likely be buying goods and services with a single currency, the Euro, throughout Europe. The EU's vision for economic and monetary union (EMU) now looks unstoppable.

According to the results of the December EU summit (in Luxembourg), talks will begin on enlargement with all 11 candidate member countries at the end of March 1998. However, actual talks will resume with only six of the candidate countries, and these will start in April. The first six countries are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, and Cyprus.