The European System of Governance and the Eastern Enlargement

Abstract

Although it is important to eliminate the illegitimatizing undemocratic heritage of the European institutional framework, any attempt to use the institutional reformist process as a means to delay the eastern widening of the European Union could endanger not only the democratic consolidation of the Central & Eastern European societies, but also the security & stability of the continent. Even more worrisome is that it could jeopardize the unity of the European integrationist project, as countries such as Germany, Austria, Denmark, & Finland lose interest in building Europe in favor of a greater bilateralism in their relationships with their Eastern European neighbors.