European Enlargement and External Trade: Towards a Protectionist Regional Bloc?

The next enlargement of the European unio‎n with ten Candidate Countries may bring a major transformation of the unio‎n1. In this essay, we look at the consequences of the accession of these countries on EU trade policy. More specifically, we assess whether this enlargement could lead the unio‎n to behave more like a protectionist regional bloc, as some fear. This political-science analysis 2 deals with this question through two interrelated issues.