The well-known difficulty of reviewing edited books is in this case enhanced by the high number of relatively short chapters (19) and also by the double ambition of this collective enterprise. On the one hand, the book deals, as the title suggests, with the recent and momentous enlargement of the European Union by the 10 Central and Eastern European countries finalized in 2004. The ambition of the editor is, however, broader. Actually, five to six of the 19 chapters deal with “enlargements,” that is, with the whole set of territorial accretions of the Community/Union, starting from the 1973 opening to the three northern countries (Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark), the 1981/86 broadening to the southern (Greece, Spain, and Portugal), the 1995 inclusion of Austria, Finland, and Sweden, and, finally, the “10+2” enlargement, referring therefore also to the two pending candidates of Romania and Bulgaria.

The first four general chapters, authored by Neill Nugent, are framed in reference to all the enlargements and deliberately try to identify similarities and differences, are distinctive and recurring features, in three main dimensions: 1) the negotiation processes, 2) the policy implications, and 3) the institutional implications of the enlargement itself. The various waves are therefore compared and ranged in terms of how much adaptation they required in the Community/Union.

Similarly, the two concluding chapters bring up again the general issue of enlargements. Lee Miles's chapter reviews existing theories of integration (neofunctionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, multilevel governance, new institutionalism, and constructivism), debating whether they have something to offer as a way to interpret the enlargements. This is a very important chapter because it clearly and directly addresses the issue of whether theories meant to explain the EU's internal developments can be used to explain the EU's territorial enlargement by new members. The results of this survey are meagre—at least in my view—but the chapter has the merit of raising the crucial question of the “theoretical” relationship between the internal consolidation of the EU and the enlargement of its external boundaries. In the context of a short chapter, the author does not fully develop this point, but he highlights the importance of this linkage and underlines its neglect in the predominant theorizing about the EU. In his concluding chapter, Nugent brings up again the general issue of implications and explanations of enlargements, and stretches the analysis to the further enlargements, foreseen or possible (not only Bulgaria and Romania but Turkey, the Balkan countries, the recalcitrant Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland, and, finally, the western former Soviet states).

In between these six chapters with a broader perspective, however, the book comprises 13 chapters that deal exclusively with specific aspects of the recent 10-country enlargement. The coverage is comprehensive, and no single aspect of the EU structure, processes, and policies is left out. Most of these chapters are very descriptive, and their quality diverges sharply. A special mention for the richness of the information and the lucidity of the analysis is owed to the chapters on the possible types of state alignments within the enlarged Union's Council (by M. Baum), to the implications for the budget and spending (by E. E. Zeff), to the implication of enlargement for the trade policy of the EU (by A. van den Hoven), and for justice and home affairs, with particular reference to crime control (by J. D. Occhipinti). Other mainly descriptive chapters concern the problems and prospects of the EU economy (N. Baltas), the internal market (G. M. Amorosi), and monetary union (M. Chang); of institutions and governance problems (D. Phinnemore); of international politics (C. Archer); and of development policy (M. Carbone).

The chapter by Gabble, concerning a discussion about what the new members will “bring” to the Union, is not meant to provide detailed information. It argues the case that the 2004 enlargement, and future enlargements as well, will “encourage the EU to develop new areas of integration” and that all the problems generated by them will be eventually solved. However, this very optimistic view is not adequately sustained or documented. Finally, the two chapters devoted to the implications of enlargement for “identity” (L. Buonanno and A. Deakin) and “legitimacy and democracy” (J. Mather) are highly speculative and generally elusive. But this is probably inevitable, given that these same features characterize the literature on these topics for the old 15 members of the EU and that the enlargement can only make these issues more complex and their evaluation more difficult in the short term.

In conclusion, the weaknesses of the book are those typical of large collective endeavors: the lack of a shared theoretical perspective; a certain amount of theme overlapping and redundancies, and the inequality in inspiration of single chapters. But the issue coverage and the information offered are impressive (the final detailed chronology and extensive bibliographical appendix are very useful). If we compare with the previous literature on enlargement, this book has the advantage of dealing with the 2004 enlargement at the moment it is completed, rather than with the process itself. It has the important feature of focusing more on the consequences of enlargement for the Union than for the applicant members. It links the issue of the 2004 enlargement to the broader question of the “theory of enlargements.”

Finally, one can mention that the overall book views the current and future enlargements positively and optimistically. Critical and skeptical views are absent. This represents the orientation of the authors, as well as the pre-TCE referendums climate. This optimism sounds less convincing in the current (summer 2005) mood of the EU milieus. Yet we do not know whether the new negative climate will become a more permanent feature of the enlarged EU, eventually affecting future enlargements, or whether it represents one of the many fluctuations in the life of the Union itself.