Innovative Growth and Peripherality in the New European Territory

Abstract

The process of European integration after the creation of the Single Market and the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty for the political and economic Union of the twelve by 1999, remains a source of extreme geopolitical confusion. The plans for enlargement include as a first step the accession of the formerly EFTA countries, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Finland, while the formerly planned economies such as the new Czech and Slovak republics, Poland and Hungary, are also serious candidates for accession to membership within foreseeable time horizons. Furthermore, the Baltic countries (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania), the Balkan countries (Albania, Rumania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav republics) and the Mediterranean countries (Malta, Cyprus, Turkey) are of major importance to the Community. This situation is reflected in the granting of special agreements and the provision of assistance under various schemes, though there is no common policy for the status of all the above countries in relation to the European Union. All these developments have greatly changed the debate and the prospects concerning the pace of the unification process, the expansion of geographical boundaries and the institutional deepening of the European Union (Holmes 1992; Mitsos 1993).