Western Balkans and the European Union

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gentian Elezi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Slowing Down ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
Determining Factor ◽  
The Eu

The European integration process of the Western Balkans has been experiencing considerable stagnation since 2010, although the regional states have been formally following the accession stages. In spite of the remarkable achievements in the 2000s in terms of stability and engagement in reforms, the European Union (EU) conditionality policy is experiencing shortcomings in terms of tangible impact. Due also to its internal problems, the EU appears to have lost its shine in influencing domestic political agendas of the Western Balkan countries as in the case of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and has gradually lost the support of citizens in the region. This has had several consequences in terms of rising authoritarian practices, slowing down EU-related reforms and compliance with the acquis, some return to nationalistic rhetoric, and openness to influences of other global actors from the East, which do not necessarily maintain good relations with the EU. The enlargement fatigue that has affected the EU since the 2008 global crisis has had repercussions inside the EU institutions and domestic politics of member states. These changes have been reflected in the Union’s approach towards accession countries, undermining the credibility of the integration process and its commitment to the Western Balkans. The weakening of credibility and predictability on this path, together with the poor state capacities that characterize the Western Balkans, have produced some regress of the democracy indicators. The EU, with its conditionality, is still a determining factor in the trajectory of the countries of the region. However, there is a need to renew the commitments undertaken on both sides in order to make sure that the European perspective, stability, and democratization in the Western Balkans are irreversible and properly supported. The European Union is still considered the only game in town, but it has to face up to the enlargement fatigue and return to its leading role as an aspirational model for the Western Balkans.

Democratic and Market Governance in Romania: Between Domestic Politics and EU Accession

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia T. Young
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Market Governance ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
Political Governance ◽  
The Eu

Institutional reforms to regulate the market environment and the proper functioning of democracy have been mandated by the European Union to accession countries. In spite of the uniform creation of such regulatory frameworks, governance problems persist, especially in the newest members of the EU. I analyze the institution al reform record in both market and political governance, as well as the effectiveness of these institutions, in the case of Romania, one of the laggards of reform. I argue that the EU did significantly support reform efforts, but insufficient domestic commitment to reform has resulted in ineffective institutions.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v4i1.194

scholarly journals Democratic and Market Governance in Romania: Between Domestic Politics and EU Accession

1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia T Young
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Market Governance ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
Political Governance ◽  
The Eu

Institutional reforms to regulate the market environment and the proper functioning of democracy have been mandated by the European Union to accession countries. In spite of the uniform creation of such regulatory frameworks, governance problems persist, especially in the newest members of the EU. I analyze the institution al reform record in both market and political governance, as well as the effectiveness of these institutions, in the case of Romania, one of the laggards of reform. I argue that the EU did significantly support reform efforts, but insufficient domestic commitment to reform has resulted in ineffective institutions.

scholarly journals Serbia’s EU integration process: The momentum of 2008

2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Ristic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Crime ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Lasting Peace ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

After four years of ambivalence, the relationship between the European Union and Serbia is again gaining a new opportunity to flourish. The new Serbian government is formed by parties which are strongly committed to Serbia?s EU integration and hence ready to carry out reforms and fully cooperate with the International Crime Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. This paper presents the current relationship between Brussels and Belgrade and its main obstacles. It emphasizes both internal and external problems of this relationship and their interdependency. In this regard the author argues that only by a mutual commitment of both Serbia and the EU lasting peace will be achieved in the Western Balkans and the region stabilized.

scholarly journals Towards European Union or Regional Economic Area: Western Balkans at Crossroads

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Gazmend Qorraj
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Economic Area ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The aim of the paper is to reflect upon the dilemma or whether the EU will continue the integration process in the Western Balkans or backlash on regional cooperation instruments and initiatives within the framework of the Western Balkans. The Regional Economic Area (REA) is analyzed as the more recent policy of the European Union for the remaining Balkan countries. It is crucial to analyze the idea behind REA, starting from two main assumptions: first, the creation of REA stemmed from EU internal challenges; and second, REA came up as a creative EU approach in efforts to find a specific model for reforms in the Western Balkans in the frame of regional institutions. The paper also discusses regional trade and specifically the role of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) in coordinating these initiatives in the Western Balkans. Taking into consideration the EU current challenges as well as difficulties of the Western Balkan countries to overcome the political and economic problems, then regional cooperation could appear as an alternative to the EU integration process for the Western Balkans. The main conclusion of this paper is that the Western Balkans needs the EU’s direct support, in particular, since RCC and other regional instruments cannot enforce, support and monitor the initiatives and reforms in the region.

The Impact of EU Political Conditionality on Minority Rights in Western Balkans: Insights from the Croatian Enlargement

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
Odeta Berberi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Political Conditionality ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Enlargement Strategy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The present paper addresses the following questions: In what way have the European Union (EU) political conditionality affect minority rights in the Western Balkan (WB) region? Did the EU political conditionality on minority issues succeed in addressing the stateness problems in Croatia? With the term “impact” I mean the absorption of formal and informal rules, procedures, norms and practices and I am going to analyze the relation European Union/Western Balkans as unidirectional i.e. the transposing of EU rules on accession countries. In the first part of this work I will analyse the EU standard of minority rights (internal dimension) and compare it with the norm ‘content’ in its external dimension. In the second part, the EU approach concerning minority rights toward the WB region, will be explored. In order to do so I will analyse the Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges produced by the European Commission (EC) from 2004. In the above document the EC emphasize the main challenges and set out the priorities for the whole region, considered as a single entity. In Western Balkans region we do have an example of recent accession. For this reason, the empirical analysis of this paper will focus on the pre-accession process of one of the new member states, Croatia. In the end I will draw some conclusions concerning the future prospects of the WB region concerning the EU conditionality and the real impact of minority right in the process.

Las funciones del interregionalismo en la relación UE-CAN

Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Olga María Cerqueira Torres
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Present Article ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Political Rationality ◽  
Article Analysis ◽  
Andean Community ◽  
The Eu

RESUMENEn el presente artículo el análisis se ha centrado en determinar cuáles de las funciones del interregionalismo, sistematizadas en los trabajos de Jürgen Rüland, han sido desarrolladas en la relación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones, ya que ello ha permitido evidenciar si el estado del proceso de integración de la CAN ha condicionado la racionalidad política del comportamiento de la Unión Europea hacia la región andina (civil power o soft imperialism); esto posibilitará establecer la viabilidad de la firma del Acuerdo de Asociación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones.Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Comunidad Andina, interregionalismo, funciones, acuerdo de asociación. Interregionalism functions in the EU-ANDEAN community relationsABSTRACTIn the present article analysis has focused on which functions of interregionalism, systematized by Jürgen Rüland, have been developed in the European Union-Andean Community birregional relation, that allowed demonstrate if the state of the integration process in the Andean Community has conditioned the political rationality of the European Union towards the Andean region (civil power or soft imperialism); with all these elements will be possible to establish the viability of the Association Agreement signature between the European Union and the Andean Community.Keywords: European Union, Andean Community, interregionalism, functions, association agreement.

The crisis of legitimacy of the EU from the perspective of intergovernmentalism

2016 ◽  
pp. 110-119
Author(s):  
Łukasz Zamęcki
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
The Eu

The aim of the paper is to analyse the sources of the crisis of legitimacy of the EU from the perspective of the intergovernmental paradigm. The paper also focuses on the nature of this crisis and the possibilities of increasing the legitimacy of the EU. The author claims that the crisis of legitimacy is a result of the fact that there is “too much Europe”, not “too little”. According to Andrew Moravcsik’s approach to intergovernmentalism, the EU crisis is a result of feeling that the European Union has ceased to be seen as an effective tool for realising the interests of the states, or that the states started to define their preferences in the integration process in an unreasonable way.

Towards an Enhanced Institutional Structure of the Eurasian Economic Union

2020 ◽  
Vol 152 ◽  
pp. 102-111
Author(s):  
Igor V. Pilipenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Eurasian Economic Union ◽  
Economic Commission ◽  
Economic Union ◽  
The Eu

This article considers how to enhance the institutional structure of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in order to enable timely decision-making and implementation of governance decisions in the interests of Eurasian integration deepening. We compare the governance structures of the EAEU and the European Union (EU) using the author’s technique and through the lens of theories of neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism elaborated with respect to the EU. We propose to determine a major driver of the integration process at this stage (the College of the Eurasian Economic Commission or the EAEU member states), to reduce the number of decision-making bodies within the current institutional structure of the EAEU, and to divide clearly authority and competence of remaining bodies to exclude legal controversies in the EAEU.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of European Union Politics

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
External Relations ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Energy Community ◽  
Vital Resource ◽  
The Eu

This encyclopedia offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on the European integration process. Under the editorial directorship of Finn Laursen and associate editors Derek Beach, Roberto Domínguez, Sung-Hoon Park, Sophie Vanhoonacker, and Amy Verdun, the publication brings together peer-reviewed contributions by leading researchers on the European Union as a global actor. Topics include the basic treaties, institutions and policies of the European Union and the previous European Communities, the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community, and the European Atomic Energy Community. It also includes articles on the various conceptual frameworks and theories that have been developed by political scientists to guide research into the integration process and the policy- and decision-making processes with a focus on the roles of the different institutions, the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Court of Justice of the EU. Additionally, the publication includes articles on the member states as well as external relations and foreign policies of the EU. As a result, the Oxford Encyclopedia of European Union Politics is a vital resource for students, scholars, and policymakers.

scholarly journals Unia Europejska wobec Bałkanów Zachodnich w kontekście kryzysu migracyjnego w latach 2015‑2019

Politeja ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3(66)) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Wawrzyniec Banach
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Eu

European Union towards Western Balkans in the Context of Migration Crisis 2015‑2019 The aim of the article is to analyse the actions taken by the European Union towards the Western Balkans in the context of the migration crisis. The study assumes that the migration crisis was an important factor accelerating the accession process of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union. In order to fulfil the research goal, an analysis of sources (European Union documents) was conducted. The paper uses elements of the theory of the regional security complex as a theoretical framework. Firstly, the activities of the European Union before the migration crisis are discussed. Next, the paper focuses on presenting the course of the crisis on the Western Balkan route. The further part of the study discusses the actions taken by the EU towards the countries of the Western Balkans in response to the migration crisis.

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