European Union Enlargement and Power Distribution in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament: The Case of the Turkish Application

1999 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 103-124
Author(s):  
Fuad Aleskerov ◽  
Gamze Avcı ◽  
Z. Umut Türem

Critics of European Union (EU) enlargement claim that new members could pose a serious challenge to the existing institutional balances within the EU and endanger future institutional deepening. Together with various enlargements since its inception in 1958, the EU has gone through numerous institutional changes that increasingly reflect its supranational character, although the European Community still contains intergovernmental elements. The most important dimension, which has evolved in this evolutionary process of the EU institutions, is the fine balance between small and large member states in terms of representation and power distribution. This is reflected, for example, in the European Commission, where the ten (relatively) small states are apportioned one commissioner and the remaining five large states two commissioners each.

Author(s):  
A. I. Tevdoy-Bourmouli

The latest cycle of the European Union enlargement generated a panoply of problems unknown of in the anamnesis of this organisation. Specific historic experience of the applicants pre-determined a considerable specialty of west-European fashioned democratic regimes in those countries, weakness of consensus and tolerance culture which has already rooted itself in the West-European society, and which has to a considerable degree secured stable development of Western Europe over the last decades. This constellation resulted particularly in the renaissance on the level of European establishment of the nationalist phobia and memories deeply buried decades ago. Though the scale of the eventual problems was evident to the EU leaders long before the official entry of Central and East-European (CEE) countries to the European Union, it neither blocked the admission of new members nor entailed a refusal to pursue the plans of further enlargement at the time when Brussels’ fears have panned out. The paradox is predetermined by the combination of the EU motives – common interests of the integration group with the interests both of individual members and outside actors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Casaglia

This article analyses the impact of Cyprus’s accession to the European Union (EU) on the northern part of the island, and tackles the political actorness of the EU with regard to the enduring Cypriot conflict. Much literature has critically analysed the EU enlargement process, underlining its imperialistic features and its problematic nature. At the same time, scholars have highlighted the EU’s difficulties in acting as a political actor and its impact on situations of ethno-national conflict. This article brings together these critical aspects by analysing them in the peculiar context of Cyprus. It retraces the negotiation process and the Turkish Cypriots’ in/visibility throughout it, and presents research conducted following Cyprus’s accession in three different periods between 2008 and 2015. We propose an interpretation of Northern Cyprus as an ‘inner neighbour’ of the EU, because of its anomalous and liminal status, the suspended application of the acquis communautaire, the unresolved conflict and the ambiguity of the border management of the Green Line, the line of partition between north and south. All these problematic features of Northern Cyprus’s situation are examined in detail to identify the unique position of this entity within the EU. In addition to this, and supporting the importance of a bottom-up understanding of the EU’s normative and symbolic projection, the article presents the opinions of Turkish Cypriot citizens about their expectations before and after 2004, and how their ideas and imaginaries related to the EU have evolved and interacted with the process of Europeanisation.


2022 ◽  
pp. 39-66
Author(s):  
Evita Dionysiou

This chapter offers an analysis of the Western Balkans' thorny path towards joining the European Union (EU). The aim is to identify the key hurdles in the European enlargement in the Western Balkans as well as to suggest ways to deal with these hurdles. The chapter begins with a historical overview and proceeds to a discussion of the most persistent hurdles that still derail the EU enlargement process. After offering recommendations on how to overcome these roadblocks, the chapter provides an outlook. Looking ahead, there is still hope that the European dream of the Western Balkans will eventually turn into reality. The final outcome will be determined to a significant degree by the commitment of the candidate countries, the EU as a whole, but also the future position of the 27 member states. Although the new enlargement methodology can be seen as a step forward, individual member states can still hijack the enlargement process. This might prove to be the Achilles' heel of the entire EU enlargement project.


Author(s):  
Lisbeth Aggestam

This chapter examines the complexity of the European Union as a foreign policy actor by focusing on its so-called Big Bang enlargement. Three of the largest EU members — Britain, France, and Germany — differed in their beliefs about the implications of enlargement for their own national interests, shifts to the existing balance of power within the EU, the impact on the functioning of EU institutions, and the future of the integration process. The chapter first provides an overview of EU foreign policy before discussing the historic decision to enlarge the EU in 2004 and 2007. In particular, it analyses the significance of European norms in reshaping member states’ interests and the supranational role of the European Commission in framing and implementing the decision to enlarge the EU. It also considers the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as an alternative when the powerful instrument of the EU enlargement is no longer available.


2002 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ballmann ◽  
David Epstein ◽  
Sharyn O'Halloran

Although relatively unknown outside of Europe, comitology committees are an object of considerable controversy in the European Union (EU). Controversy stems from their pivotal role in overseeing policy implementation authority delegated from the Council of Ministers (Council) to the European Commission (Commission). In this article, we employ a game-theoretic model to analyze the influence of these, committees on policy outcomes. Our analysis provides three important insights. First, we show that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, comitology committees move outcomes toward the Commission's preferred policies rather than the Council's. Second, we demonstrate that the possibility of a Council veto may also move outcomes away from Council members' policy preferences and toward the Commission's. Third, the 1999 changes to the comitology procedures, designed to enhance the Commission's autonomy in policymaking, may have had the exact opposite effect. Paradoxically, we conclude that comitology serves to enhance the Commission's role in policy implementation and thereby strengthens the separation of powers within the EU.


2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D. Bojkov

The article analyses the process of EU enlargement with reference to the progress that Bulgaria and Romania have made within it. It is argued that leaving them out of the wave of accession finalised in May 2004 for ten of the candidate states, has placed them in a situation of double exclusion. Firstly, their geographical belonging to the region of Southeast Europe has been rendered non-essential by their advanced position within the EU enlargement process. Secondly, their achievement in economic and political transition has been removed from the progress of the ten states, which joined the EU in May 2004 by delaying the time of their accession. As a result, any efforts in regional cooperation and integration between Bulgaria and Romania on one hand, and other Southeast European states on the other, have been effectively cancelled. Moreover, in current European politics, the two countries have come to serve the unenviable role of exemplifying on the part of the European Union how progress is being awarded and hesitation punished.


2004 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-195
Author(s):  
Andreas P. Kyriacou

Abstract The enlargement of the European Union generates socio-economic costs and benefits for the citizens of new members and as such it is bound to affect their perceived legitimacy of the whole enterprise. The legitimacy of EU accession is likely to be enhanced by the inclusion of compensatory transfers and transition periods in the terms of accession, by the perception that EU membership represents the most favorable terms of exchange available and by the linking of accession to a sustained period of economic growth, a favorable movement in prices, improving relative incomes and the consolidation of a level playing field across new members.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-428
Author(s):  
Sarah Jane Fox

Abstract Cooperation is key to policing and keeping mankind safe and secure; this includes protecting citizens from various crimes, including terrorist attacks. However, it is not an easy feat to always achieve – as is explained within this paper. The related research considers the complexities and challenges of sharing and coordinating across divides – or, in other words, cooperating across borders (be they open or closed). Specifically, it discusses the advancements made between one bloc of countries – the European Union; and, how the evolutionary process has aided to expand cooperative community practices via various means between the police and other lea’s. As part of this, transport and movement are viewed as an essential element to be discussed and factored in. Finally, the paper considers the, arguably, devolutionary position of the UK and the implications – post 2020, in terms of marking a ‘potentially’ regressive position, one that stands to compromise safety and security.


Author(s):  
F. Basov

This article is dedicated to the German policy towards the EU enlargement. Its history as well as the current German policy towards prospective enlargements are analyzed in this paper. The article offers party-political and sociological analysis of Germany`s attitude towards the EU enlargement, also the reasons for it are determined. FRG supported all of the European Community and European Union enlargements. This line is being continued, but nowadays only step to step approach is being supported. Germany‘s motives to the EU enlargement are based on the liberal concept of the common security. The main goals of this policy are the including of European countries into the Western community of developed countries (the EU), the extension of the stability and security area. The economic integration is also very important for Germany. The key priority of the EU enlargement is the Western Balkan region (the so called “Europeanisation” of Western Balkans). This process is being supported by political elites of the region and by the European Union itself. It is recognized, that the Europeanisation of Western Balkans was used as a sample for the Eastern Partnership Program. Without consideration of the Russian factor, though, this strategy towards the post-Soviet countries has many weaknesses. But the EU-membership for the Eastern Partnership members is not excluded.


2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Kopanchuk ◽  
Tetiana Zanfirova ◽  
Tetiana Novalska ◽  
Dmytro Zabzaliuk ◽  
Kateryna Stasiukova

Cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Union is of great interest to Ukraine, which defines the entry into the European legal field as one of the main vectors of its development. The study is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the impact of cooperation between the Council of Europe and the European Union on the development of modern international law. The authors studied the formation and development of collaboration between the Council of Europe and the EU; emphasized the legal aspects of cooperation between the European Council and the EU in the EU enlargement process; analyzed in detail the types of international agreements through the legal aspect and clarified the impact of cooperation between the Council of Europe and the EU on the development of modern international law and describe the forms of international legal cooperation between the Council of Europe and the EU.


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