Berlin Wall Falls — Reunification and Enlargement Horizon Shift

The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 transformed the European integration project's geopolitical context. German reunification was achieved on October 3, 1990, immediately expanding the EEC territory eastward (the former East Germany joined as part of unified Germany). The collapse of communist regimes across Central and Eastern Europe opened the prospect of a major future enlargement to the east, fundamentally reorienting EU strategic thinking.