Along with prosperity and peace, the European Union
has brought its citizens unprecedented opportunities
and freedom to study, work, travel and trade
(22)---- Europe’s borders. The EU has helped strengthen
democracy, human rights and legal reforms in many
member states and aspiring candidate countries
(23)---- continuing its original role as a mechanism for
peace. But the EU’s founding rules and
institutions (24)---- for a far smaller union and it now
risks suffocation under its own weight and becoming
one large dysfunctional family. Replacing the old
constitutional norms or creating a new treaty to
(25)---- the complex 28-member union will be an
imperative. Furthermore, future enlargement will remain
a contentious issue (26)---- the EU absorbs its newest
members and the next wave of candidates fuels the
ongoing debate about who can join and where the
ultimate boundaries of Europe lie