On May 1 the European Union has taken ten new countries on board. The second biggest economy in the world now consists of 454 million people in 25 countries with an overall gross domestic product of 9.600 billion EURO.

Agreement on a European constitution seems imminent in June, thus "deepening" the integration after the biggest ever process of "widening". The consequences of both events are also bigger than ever. What are the choices ahead of the European Union that is also voting for a new Parliament in June, the only supranational Parliament on the globe? And moreover: What might be the implication of an enlarged and more assertive European Union for transatlantic relations, most notably in foreign and security affairs? In light of the past Internal Western Cold War on Iraq, this issue is of more concern than ever.

Ludger Kuehnhardt, Director at the Center of European Studies (ZEI) at Bonn University and currently Visiting Professor with Stanford's International Relations Program will discuss current developments in the European Union and their transatlantic implication.