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Towards a pan-European Union

The European Union should set clearer priorities with regard to the requirements for accession that have to be met by candidate member states from Central and Eastern Europe. The enlargement of the EU also calls for a timely review of the common agricultural policy and the EU’s cohesion policy. These are the key conclusions in the report Towards a pan-European Union (Report no. 59, 2001).

Download "WRR Report no. 59: Towards a pan-European Union"

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Report | 10-08-2001

Accession on the basis of a core acquis

There are concerns as to whether the countries joining the EU will be capable of fully adopting the EU rules (the acquis). In some policy areas, therefore, a distinction needs to be made between the non-negotiable core acquis and a residual acquis, which can be implemented gradually on the basis of a programme adopted at the time of their accession. According to the WRR, in this way the early accession of a number of candidates will be possible without eroding the EU’s important achievements

Modernisation of agricultural and cohesion policy

With a view to the enlargement, the EU needs to modernise the common agricultural policy. The EU’s agricultural policy should focus mainly on demand-oriented, high-quality production. It is also essential to modernise the cohesion policy by focusing it on the potential for economic development of the less prosperous member states.

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