ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ ΚΑΙ ΑΠΟΨΕΙΣ

1. INTRODUCTION The European Union (EU) is one of the most prominent and powerful international organization in the world. The effectiveness of its power, both soft and hard, emanates from the credibility, reliability, stability, strength, impact, influence, extent, and magnitude of its members states. From the creation of the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957, the EU has considerably changed both in size and in its institutions. At the same time political and economic transformations and revolutions like and the restoration of democracy in Portugal, Spain and Greece and the communist collapse in 1989 triggered the necessity for an enlarged EU. The transition from the EEC to the EU was at the same time a prerequisite and a necessity for the stability of the European community. However, even though the 2004-2007 European enlargements were successful in many respects, they caused growing anxieties for the future of the process itself. In