The European Union (EU) has long viewed the enlargement process as an extraordinary opportunity to promote political stability and economic prosperity in Europe. U.S. Administrations and many Members of Congress have long backed EU enlargement, believing that it serves U.S. interests by advancing democracy and economic prosperity throughout the European continent. Some U.S. officials are concerned that "enlargement fatigue" as well as the EU's ongoing financial crisis could hinder EU expansion. The status of EU enlargement and its implications for both the EU itself and U.S.-EU relations may be of interest to the second session of the 112th Congress.

Interview with Dritz Schwalm, a professor at the University of North Texas from Arolsen, Hesse. Schwalm discusses his family background, the county of Waldeck, his education, moving to the United States and working in academia, his parents' laundry business, the University of Marburg, working at Texas Women's University and the University of North Texas, German culture in the United States, shopping, the Goethe Institute, American politics, thoughts on citizenship, and radical leftists in Germany. In appendix are two pictures of Marburg discussed in the interview.