EU Enlargement and the Perception of the Young - Classtests [5A]
Delbello Federica 4th Classtest
Enlargement is one of the most important oppurtunities for the European Union at the beginning of the 21st century. It is a unique, historic task to further the integration of the continent by peaceful means, extending a zone of stability and prosperity to new members.
However, the enlargement facing the EU today poses a unique challenge, since it is without precedent in terms of scope and diversity: the number of candidates, the area (increase of 34%) and population (increase of 105 million), the wealth of different histories and cultures.

EU enlargement is a process still going on and will certainly take a long time to come true. In a short essay format, discuss the problem with reference to:
• The extract above.
• Your experience in interviewing young people fro the surrounding area.
• The interpretation of data carried out by the different groups in your class.
Conclude your essay with your personal opinion and some practical proposals that may promote integration among European young people.


The purpose of the following work is to discuss EU Enlargement in order to make some hypothesis on the future of the community (and of the world, of course).
I will take into consideration the extract taken from the site www.europa.eu.it and my personal experience of interviewing young people and interpreting the data collected.
The European Union was born after WWII in order to prevent another disaster; this original aim developed into the concepts known as “deepening” and “widening”.
The extract taken from the Internet synthesizes the great contradiction of the community in two paragraphs; as a matter of fact, the first part underlines positively the aim of the Union, and it is in opposition with the second one (whose incipit in fact is “However”) which connotes the problem as a “unique challenge” for the great diversities and antithesis coexisting.
Just reading the extract, it becomes evident why the process is still so hot.
As a student I had the possibility of taking part in the project of interviewing young people in order to analyse the level of information about EU. The work underlined a scarce interest on the topic; most of the interviewed was confused, and most of them were women.
The data are relevant for reasoning on the extended level of ignorance about such an important problem as EU Enlargement. It derives from the scarce information given by the media, but the real cause is that we don’t feel part of a global community; we are attached to our cultures or languages, looking at integration as a possible loss of identity. We fear apparent diversity, using it as an excuse.
The scarce level of interest among the young people is understandable in a ruder rich country like Italy, but EU integration would be very relevant for the poorer population. Entering EU means losing some rights and powers in exchange for peace and stability.
The problem of Turkey synthesizes the contradictions inside EU, the for and the against, the opposition between the aim of stability and the diversities among states.