EU Enlargement – What Comes Next?

B2 – Upper Intermediate

The European Union is a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has grown from the six founding states to the current 28. Joining the European community has become a primary goal for most European politicians.

Read the article below and express your thoughts about EU enlargement.

http://www.english-online.at/current_affairs/eu-enlargement/eu-candidate-countries.htm

Discussion Questions:

1. As a citizen of the EU, what is your opinion of further expanding the union or adding more countries?
2. Do you remember the time when your country joined the EU? Do you think it was a good idea for your country to join the EU?
3. How do you think Europe would be like if the EU weren’t ?

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4 replies on “EU Enlargement – What Comes Next?”

1. I think that the EU may add more countries but new member states have to catch up to minimum standards. In a globalized world, there is no place for barriers, we should work together and collaborate to achieve a balance and harmony with economies like China, the United States or Arabian countries.
2. I experienced this situation when I was younger. Spain was not in the EU. Spain´s enlargement was very slow from 1962 to 1986. However, I remember better when the euro became the single currency in 2002. It was a shock, for several years we were calculating or converting how many pesetas were whatever we bought.
The are many advantages, we have a larger market for doing business and we can be able to travel without passports and visas in many countries using a single currency. The problem is that things are not perfect, I mean, almost everything is decided in Brussels now and sometimes it can seem unfair depending on the country but those are the rules.
3. The EU has done for all of us a lot of things. Being in the EU makes life easier in general. Some examples are:
You can travel freely throughout Europe in the so-called “ Schengen Countries”, without paying anything, and no waiting in lines for border crossing, the driving license is valid everywhere too. Besides you can live and work wherever you want and get the same treatment as a national citizen. Paid leaves for holidays are also similar.
There is a range of opportunities for students thanks to the foreign exchange program Erasmus.
As consumers, we are more protected. The guarantees of products you buy or the food labeling are similar. Flights and phone calls are cheaper because the EU banned or broken monopolies and they are private companies and competition between them.
I believe that we must have environmental standards too because rivers, atmosphere and oceans do not depend on borders and we all suffer consequences from climate change.

Welcome to the Phoneenglish blog! You wrote your answers rather well!

Take a look at this sentence and see how you can structure it better:

The are many advantages, we have a larger market for doing business and we can be able to travel without passports and visas in many countries using a single currency.

The are many advantages. One of which is that we have a larger market for doing business. and We can be able to also travel to many countries without passports and visas in and using the same a single currency.

Get going with your writing practice to enhance your skills further.

1. I think that it is ok to add more members, if the candidate countries to join the EU are compliant with the EU standards. Personally, I would be more than happy of having new countries in the Union, as this adds new opportunities to travel, make business and to learn about our neighbors.
However, this should be always respecting the EU philosophy and cultural background of respect, freedom, equality and promoting peace. In addition, it should not destabilize the well-being of the current members of the Union. Unfortunately, the crisis derived from the Covid-19 pandemic, has challenged the UE and their response capacity, and I do not foresee any new country joining the UE until the dust settles.

2. No, I do not remember the time when Spain joined the EU. However, there is consensus in the country about how good it was for us to become European, both at the economic and at the cultural level.
3. It would probably be a more polarized Europe, with conflicts and more poverty on average.

Well done with your answers on this lesson’s discussion questions.

Here is how you can express this sentence a bit better:

Personally, I would be more than happy of having new countries in the Union, as this adds new opportunities to travel, make business and to learn about our neighbors.

Personally, I would be more than happy to have new countries in the Union as this adds new opportunities to travel, do business, and learn about our neighbors.

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