France and the Eastern enlargement of the European Union

France in the construction of Europe

At first reluctant towards an enlargement whom it believed would compromise the strengthening of the Union, France gradually rallied to an approach assuming the compatibility of those two goals. France had three priorities which happened to be satisfied to various degrees: an institutional reform prior to enlargement, a limited adjustment of the CAP, a limitation of budget expenditure after accession. These difficult negotiations among the Fifteen revealed the failure for the Franco-German alliance to propose a common vision of the future of Europe. – Summary AFRI-2004

Françoise de La SERRE

Directrice de recherche à la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (CERI, Paris, France). Elle a récemment publié : « L'architecture institutionnelle de la PESC », in François PETITEVILLE (dir.), AFRI, Presses de la FNSP, Paris, 2004 ; « L'élargissement de l'Union européenne aux PECO », AFRI, La Documentation française, Paris, 2004 ; « La coopération renforcée », in Paul MAGNETTE (dir.), AFRI, Editions de l'Université libre de Bruxelles, 2002 (2ème éd. remise à jour).