Reference no: EM131649763

A European Union without borders? After accepting ten new members in 2004, another two in 2007, and one more in 2013, the EU is experiencing severe integration problems, especially since the beginning of the global credit crisis in 2008 and the spillover European sover- eign debt crisis of 2010. Some EU taxpayers wonder if proper vetting was done before so many new members were admitted in haste. The massive bailout of the bank- ing sector in Ireland and Portugal, followed by the pain- ful restructuring of Greece’s sovereign debt and chronic fiscal deficit problems has exposed the limits to which well-off EU members are willing to rescue other EU countries. The total failure of the financial sector among “star economic performers” of the recent past—the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain—clearly exposed the weakness of the deregulated Anglo- American capi- talism that was practiced by some “market-oriented” member states. Public demand for tighter, more effec- tive regulation of the financial sector has resulted in the introduction of new banking legislation in the United States and Europe as taxpayers in the west are getting fed up with a “so-called capitalist system” that privatizes profits and socializes risk. The scenario asks many questions: (a) whether the EU has moved eastward too fast and too soon; (b) whether EU is resorting to “à la carte” membership that is straining the management of the union; (c) whether new members should be admitted any time soon; and (d) whether there ought to be a demarcation —referring to countries such as Turkey, Georgia, and Ukraine— beyond which the EU will not cross. EU critics argue that just as the Soviets aggressively and forcefully took over neighboring states to keep communism safe, the EU is accepting new members to its fold—all the way to Russia’s borders—to keep Europe safe for democracy. In this process, a number of countries have been (and are) in the course of be- ing accepted into the EU without adequate vetting. The Russians are concerned because a large number of EU members are also members of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which has a policy stat- ing that an attack on any one NATO member is an at- tack on all its members, therefore, a military incident would require a coordinated military response. Russia is watching the proposed EU and NATO member- ships of Georgia and Ukraine very closely because of this. While Russia may not be very concerned about Georgia and Ukraine joining the EU, their member- ship in NATO will not be acceptable. Russia’s annexa- tion of Crimea and incursion into Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine in 2014 clearly shows that Russia’s pa- tience has been tested. It may be in Russia’s interest to destabilize Georgia and Ukraine if they ever decide to join NATO. Although the EU has some exemplary value-based goals that all member countries must follow (the so- called Copenhagen criteria of adherence to democracy, rule of law, rights of minorities, etc.), critics argue that member countries appear to be “cherry picking” aspects of EU goals they would like to follow. Hence, the EU es- sentially practices differentiated regional integration. For example, the United Kingdom and Denmark have chosen to opt out of the euro after meeting euro-entry require- ments. The Schengen open-border area (which dictates that once a person enters an EU country legally, that per- son can cross into other EU member states without other country’s visas) extends to nonmembers, such as Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland; while EU members such as the United Kingdom and Ireland remain outside of this Poland from the Charter of Fundamental Rights although they violated human rights by renditioning 9/11 terrorism suspects to third countries in order to extract confessions through torture. A lack of uniform enforcement of the rule of law within the EU will only weaken the EU as monitor- ing the various permutations and combinations of mem- bership policies could turn into a Brussels nightmare. QUESTIONS: 1) Given the security concerns of both the EU and Russia, where should EU’s eastern border end? Do you think the buffer states should become NATO members as well? Why or why not? 2) Should