Moreover, the new Member States demonstrated in many areas that even unpopular reforms, like pension reforms, can be accomplished when tackled right. Increased competition from within and the will to further the competitiveness of the EU as a whole are surely very nice side effects of the enlargement and an incentive to take the revival of the Lisbon strategy seriously.
Although EMU represents a highly successful achievement it cannot be considered as the end-point of the European integration process.Apart from the necessity to successfully maintain and foster stability and growth, Europemust also meet the challenge of the recent geographic expansion of ten new Member States, which is of immense historical magnitude. The Maastricht Treaty was negotiated by 12 countries.