EU enlargement and security in the Mediterranean region

Abstract

The EU’s fifth enlargement, comprising eight CEE countries and the two Mediterranean island states of Cyprus and Malta, extended the Union’s frontiers southwards towards North Africa and further eastwards towards Russia. While, in theory, an enlarged Union has more resources at its disposal to deal with its security challenges, in practice, the larger number of member states makes consensus more difficult. Member states also tend to prioritise issues closer to them geographically, which, in turn, influences the manner in which they view the Union’s security challenges. As such, it produced an increased preponderance of CEE states in the EU, thus shifting the Union’s internal balance and raising the possibility of the EU becoming more focused on the problems of Eastern Europe, at the expense of the Mediterranean region.