The European Union and Immigration from New Member Countries

After the end of the Second World War, Europe was divided into two opposing blocs - the US-led free-market oriented Western Europe and the Soviet Union-led socialist Central and East Europe. The West European countries, devastated by the war, realized that economic protectionism and chauvinistic nationalism were factors that could lead to war among various nations. Jean Monnet, considered by many as the architect of the European Union, felt that if Europe was to avoid the scourge of destructive wars, the European states must come together. He declared, "There will be no peace in Europe, if the states are reconstituted on the basis of national sovereignty...The European states must constitute themselves into a federation."...

During this period, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakia became free of Soviet control. In 1991, the disintegration of the Soviet Union led to the emergence of several new states on the international stage -- the Russian Federation, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Having been severely constrained for decades by centralized planning, many of these newly independent states looked eagerly toward the EC for the development of their economies. It also provided an opportunity for the EC to further the process of European integration...