Enlargement of the European Union (EU) offers historic opportunities, both to applicants and to existing member states. Securing these opportunities will be important to enhance and strengthen the EU relative to its international competitors. The competitiveness of the high technology industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, is a genuine asset to Europe, but it also creates some problems.
From the pharma industry’s perspective, the question of whether the expansion of the EU is regarded as a threat or an opportunity clearly depends on a company’s own strategies, positioning in the marketplace and product portfolio. The areas likely to be most affected by the impact of accession are cross-border trade, the growth of the genetics market and raising questions of whether ‘parallel imports’ may increase as a result of the expansion.
