Enlargement of the EU and Effective Implementation of Community Rules: An Integration-Based Approach (Update of an earlier paper)

The internal market is undoubtedly the "heart" of the European Union. Although the legislative basis of the internal market is very much in place, the task for the completion of the internal market is not over yet. The European Commission has launched several initiatives over the past few years to "ensure a common understanding of the rules and build a shared commitment to enforcement". Effective implementation and enforcement of EU rules is the "last frontier" in the process of creating a single European market without any impediment or barrier, which began more than thirty years ago.

By contrast, it is rapidly becoming the "first frontier" for the countries that aspire to join the EU. In June 1993 the Copenhagen European Council defined four political and economic requirements that had to be satisfied by any European country that wished to apply for membership of the European Union.1 Since then, a fifth requirement has emerged as a more stringent and, some argue, less tangible criterion of membership. This new criterion concerns the capacity of prospective members to comply effectively with the obligations they assume in order to accede to the Union.