Abstract
"A day will come when all the nations of the continent will merge strictly in a superior unity and will constitute the European brotherhood" it will have been necessary more than a century so that this premonitory speech of Victor Hugo pronounced in 1849, pass from utopia to the reality. The process of European integration came true around a logic of common market passing of the ESCS (European Community of the Coal and some Steel on 1951) to the Treaty of Rome (in March 25th, 1957), in the Single European Act in 1986 which widened the skills of the EEC and insures a better functioning of the European institutions.
The Treaty of Maastricht was adopted in February in 1992 and it creates the EMU (Economic and Monetary Union) and fixes the conditions and the calendar of the monetary realization. The Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998 completes the construction by perpetuating the Pact of stability and growth. These treaties so strengthen the economic and monetary integration. The Treaty of Nice signed in 2001 which opened the way of the EU enlargement and set up an institutional reform, the objective of which is to allow the effective functioning of Europe while the members almost doubled.
The Treaty of Lisbon signed in December, 2007 by the leaders of the E.U is intended to revise the institutions of the Union, further to the failure of the project of Constitution. This text plans to reform the European institutions by giving them a bigger visibility, a bigger stability while preparing its future extensions. Initially constituted of six countries, the European community extends in 27 countries today and negotiations are opened for the entry of Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia.
The integration of the countries of Europe was expressed by a tremendous development of the exchanges intra European. Today they concern approximately 70 % of the exchanges of the community. These exchanges made a positive contribution to the development of the international exchanges. They are also one of the explanations of the fast growth of the zone: every country having served as outside outlet for its partner and the increase of the markets' size allowed to convey economies of scale and productivity gains.
However, since 1989, the geopolitical environment and geo economic of Europe have been profoundly modified. The EU opened its frontiers to the European countries on the basis of a membership in the "acquis communautaires" (community acquits) (treaties, legislation) and the question which settles then is to know if the borders of the EU are political or economic?
If they are economic, the Balkans, Turkey, Ukraine, the Belarus' entry can be defended. It is nevertheless necessary to keep in mind that the entry of an increasing number of countries transforms the union itself and creates a situation of heterogeneousness which will be difficult to manage. If they are geographical, they exclude number of regions and not necessarily on the criteria of the "acquis communautaires" (community acquits). Our problem will be to study which extension is possible for Europe and with which consequences.
