Publisher's Synopsis
This lucid and wide-ranging volume aims to provide a valuable context to understanding the process of enlargement of the EC. Whilst there are innumerable works on the origins and development of the EC in general and historical terms, this is the first volume to examine in a theoretical, analytical framework the origins and development of the European Economic Area, one of the most significant outcomes of EC expansion.;The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution in EC relations with EFTA and the EFTA countries since the mid 1980s, the main emphasis being placed on the period from 1989 (the Delors initiative) to the and of 1992 (all applications of membership submitted).;Given the current uncertainty surrounding future developments in the EC and particularly the speed of enlargement, the final section sketches out seven possible directions for European co-operation, assuming different combinations of membership (membership/ partial membership/ association) for the European periphery and integration models (centralized federation/ decentralized federation/ confederation) for the EC.
