The economic integration of the fifth and sixth enlargement wave countries to the European Union and the Greece issue

During the last century, there has been a prominent focus on economic integrations that countries have implemented in order to liberalize and develop trade and other economic connections among regional countries. In this context, the formation of regional economic integrations within different regions is seen today. The European Union (EU) is undoubtedly the leading positions of these. The European Union is the only organization that has achieved and maintained the most advanced level of integration the world has ever seen in political and economic history. The European Union has become a complex and deepened supranational organization with 28 member countries and 5 candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey) which are in the negotiation with. In this thesis, the economic integration process of the Fifth and Sixth Enlargement Countries, which gained full membership in 2004, 2007 and 2013, has been analyzed in detail. In particular, the situation of Greece, which has failed to achieve its economic integration to a satisfactory level even though it has gained a full membership much earlier than the other enlargement countries, has been thoroughly examined. As a result of the study, the comparison of the adaptation process of selected countries and the EU's economic integration model showed that Maastricht Criteria have a critical function in the context of economic integration. The Fifth and Sixth Enlargement Countries, which were accepted to the Euro Zone with an economy in line with the Maastricht Criteria, were found to achieve a more stable economy than Greece, despite being economically smaller than Greece. It has been found that the accession of Greece to membership without complying with the mentioned criteria has caused problems. Key Words: European Union, Integration, Economic Integration, Enlargement.