Dates of Meeting: Friday 30th to Saturday 31st May 2003.

The first enlargement of the European Union in the early 1970s is the central theme of this workshop. There will be three individual papers on the accessions of the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland, as well as three other papers on the role of the European institutions, the completion of negotiations with Norway (albeit with their subsequent failure to accede), and parallel relations with Spain, respectively.

It brings together historians and political scientists working on European Union enlargement issues, with specific reference to the 1970-1972 negotiations for entry. The historians will take advantage of the release of official documents to examine the truth behind the first wave of enlargement, what those inside the process were thinking, how the members of the then European Communities carried out the process, and why certain candidates succeeded in acceding while others failed. Meanwhile, political scientists will be particularly interested in the parallels that can be drawn between enlargements past, present and future, and can take advantage of the most up to date analyses of the first round of EU enlargement.

Provisional details for this workshop (including the participants and the titles of their papers), to run from lunchtime on Friday, 30 May 2003, to a conclusion late on Saturday afternoon, 31 May 2003, follow:

Friday, 30 May 2003
2pm-3:45pm Session 1 EC presentation - Piers N.Ludlow
4pm-5:45pm Session 2 Irish presentation - Maurice FitzGerald sessions chaired by Fernando Guirao and held in Room A.2.04, Schofield

Saturday, 31 May 2003
9am-10:45am Session 3 UK presentation - Alan S.Milward
11am-12:45pm Session 4 Danish presentation - Morten Rasmussen sessions chaired by Maurice FitzGerald and held in Room A.2.04, Schofield
2pm-3:45pm Session 5 Norwegian presentation - Hans-Otto Frøland
4pm-5:45pm Session 6 Spanish presentation - Fernando Guirao sessions chaired by Alan S.Milward and held in Room A.2.04, Schofield

This is the fourth in a series of meetings of the Breakthrough group, but the first to take place in the UK; this workshop in being partly funded by the East Midlands Eurocentre and UACES.

Comprising Prof Fernando Guirao (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona), Dr Maurice FitzGerald (Loughborough University), Prof Alan S Milward (European University Institute, Florence), Dr Piers N. Ludlow (London School of Economics), Prof Hans Otto Frøland (Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Trondheim), Morten Rasmussen and Prof Johnny Laursen (Aarhus Universitet, Denmark), the Breakthrough group is thus meeting from 30-31 May 2003 to begin the process of making their findings more public.

The workshop is open to all and, while there is no charge to attend, we need an indication of numbers for the purpose of confirming a suitable room. Therefore, for further details, and in order to register your interest, please see the contact details below.