Eastward enlargement and EU development policy

It does not look as though it will be easy to integrate the new member states into the EU's development policy: the states involved have hardly any properly functioning organizations that could implement this policy; the legal basis and substantive definition of the issue are inadequate; and the financial resources available are below the average for the 15 states that were EU members up to May 2004. There is little awareness of development cooperation as an issue, and there are hardly any historical ties with developing countries. It is therefore likely to be difficult for these countries to accept a new role as disbursers rather than recipients of EU funds. At the same time, it will be in the security interests of the new EU members to seek to bring about a reorientation of development cooperation towards their immediate regional environment, and to argue that greater consideration should be given to the promotion of democracy and human rights.