European Union enlargement in the European public discourse

Abstract

This senior thesis is conducted on the topic European Union enlargement in public discourse. It describes the historical background, challenges and opportunities of enlargement processes that today’s European Union have faced. The paper focuses on the perception of European Union citizens of future enlargement. The Eurobarometer data on attitudes of Europeans towards the expansion of EU is used in order to weigh the views of public concerning this issue. The specific chapter analyzes the data about political, economic and social aspects of enlargement in the reflection of public discourse in order to provide predictions and recommendation for future enlargement. Individual cases of candidate countries of Turkey and Croatia are also included in this work.