scholarly journals Europe at the crossroads: Constitution, enlargement and the future of European Union

2005 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 529-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofija Siriski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Future ◽  
Political Commitments ◽  
Enlargement Strategy ◽  
The Eu

Following the largest enlargement of the EU from 15 to 25 Member States many people are asking the question: where does Europe end? The Union has already made political commitments to additional EU members: Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Croatia and the other Balkan countries and in spite of the European Neighbourhood Policy further thinking of the EU enlargement also includes Ukraine and Moldova. But the French and Dutch rejection of the constitutional treaty has made the future EU enlargement uncertain and the EU adopted a new comprehensive enlargement strategy based on consolidation of the EU.

8. EU Enlargement and Wider Europe

2018 ◽  
pp. 167-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Sedelmeier ◽  
Graham Avery
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
European Model ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

The EU has expanded many times and many countries still aspire to join. It has extended the prospect of membership to countries in the Balkans and Turkey and has developed a ‘neighbourhood’ policy towards other countries, some of which may want to join in the future. Enlargement illustrates the success of the European model of integration. It has also provided the EU with a powerful tool to influence domestic politics in would-be members. But enlargement also poses fundamental challenges. It has implications both for how the EU works (its structure and institutions) and for what it does (its policies). The chapter first compares ‘widening’ and ‘deepening’ before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Neither here, not there: Bulgaria and Romania in current European politics☆

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D. Bojkov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Politics ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
The Eu

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.

8. EU Expansion and Wider Europe

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Avery
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
European Neighbourhood Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

This chapter focuses on the expansion of the European Union and the widening of Europe. Enlargement is often seen as the EU's most successful foreign policy. It has extended prosperity, stability, and good governance to neighbouring countries by means of its membership criteria. However, enlargement is much more than foreign policy: it is the process whereby the external becomes internal. It is about how non-member countries become members, and shape the development of the EU itself. The chapter first compares widening and deepening before discussing enlargement as soft power. It then explains how the EU has expanded and why countries want to join. It also looks at prospective member states: the Balkan countries, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. Finally, it examines the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Crisis? What Crisis? EU Enlargement and the Political Economy of European Union Social Policy

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Sykes
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Strategies ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

This article considers the character of EU social policy and in particular the linkages between the EU's economic and social strategies. Arguably, the most recent enlargement of the EU represents a turning point for the future of EU social policy, though there is disagreement about its future if not so much about the causes of this crisis. The article concludes that the future political economy of EU social policy and indeed of the EU itself may be subject to fundamental changes.

scholarly journals Europos Sąjungos konstitucinė sutartis ir Lisabonos sutartis: skirtumų beieškant

Teisė ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 55-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irmantas Jarukaitis
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Council ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
The Future ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Eu

Straipsnyje Europos Sąjungos (ES) konstitucinės sutarties ir Lisabonos sutarties požiūriu analizuojami ES prigimties klausimai1. 2007 m. birželio 21–22 d. Europos Valdovų Taryba (EVT) priėmė išvadas, ku­riose, be kita ko, nurodoma, jog Lisabonos sutartis nebus konstitucinio pobūdžio. Būtent šis teiginys yra pagrindinis straipsnio tyrimo pradžios taškas ir objektas. Atitinkamai straipsnyje analizuojama ES da­bartis, t. y. siekiama atsakyti į klausimą, kiek egzistuojanti ES ir jos teisės sistema gali būti suvokiama kaip konstitucinė sistema, kiek ES kontekste pateisinamas konstitucinės kalbos vartojimas, ir ateitis, t. y. konstitucionalizmo požiūriu analizuojama ES konstitucinė sutartis ir Lisabonos sutartis. The article deals with issues of the nature of the EU from the point of view of the EU Constitutional Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty. The European Council has adopted conclusions in June 21–22, 2007 which state among the other things that the Lisbon Treaty will not have a constitutional character. Namely this statement is the main point of departure of the article and its main object of research. The article ana­lyses the present of the EU aiming at providing the answer to the question, to what extent the currently existing EU may be treated as constitutional system, to what extent the use of constitutional language in the context of the EU is justified and the future of the EU under the Lisbon Treaty.

THE PROBLEM OF THE EU INTEGRATION OF THE BALKAN COUNTRIES AND THE EU ENLARGEMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE VALUE MODEL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

2021 ◽  
pp. 176-193
Author(s):  
Svetlana Knyazeva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

The article examines a wide range of the problems associated with the boundless enlargement of the European Union which makes it possible to place the Balkans in the context of general European development. To become a member of the EU is the important goal of the post-socialist countries of the Balkans/South-Eastern Europe. Bulgaria, Romania, and the post-Yugoslavian states of Slovenia and Croatia became full members of the EU. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania are still at different stages of integration into the European community. This accession is the logical completion of the processes of social, political, economic and legal transformation of the Balkan countries, in which they themselves and the European Union as a whole and its individual member states are interested for reasons of geopolitics and geoeconomics. However, the accession to Europe (or the return to Europe) of the Balkan states with their authoritarian and socialist past includes not only the reform of the economic, political and legal systems, but also a change in value orientations. While in the states of the so-called «founding fathers» of the EU a Western European corporate civic identity is being formed, in the countries of the former Eastern Europe and the Balkan region, ethnic identity remains remains largely in the mainstream of public consciousness. The author examines axiological, ideological and psychological aspects of the accession of post-socialist countries to the EU, and also analyzes specific foreign policy problems associated with this process and the role of regional international organizations in the «europeanization» of the Balkans and in the settlement of ethnic and interstate conflicts in the region that still remain acute. Negative tendencies, first of all - the strengthening of populist sentiments and the coming to power of politicians reflecting these sentiments, pose challenges and threats not only to the European Union, but also to Russia.

scholarly journals The Eu Enlargement. How to be Like the Irish and not the Greek?

ECONOMICS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Tahir Mahmutefendic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Developmental Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Rich Club ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Apart from the former EFTA members (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and a few former republics of the Soviet Union (Bjelorussia, Moldova and Ukraina) the countries of the Western Balkans are the only European states outside of the European Union. They are very keen to join the Union. The Balkans have always been the poorest part of Europe. The appeal of the wealthy European Union is apparent. Access to the largest market in the world, investment, modern technologies and generous regional funds give a hope that by joining the EU the Western Balkans countries will join the rich club. At the moment performance of the Western Balkan countries does not guarantee that they will become rich by joining the European Union. Their current production and trade structure makes it likely that the Western Balkan countries will be locked in inter-industry trade in which they will export products of low and medium technological and developmental level and import products of high technological and developmental level. This might lead to divergence rather than convergence between them and the European Union. In other to overcome this problem the Western Balkan countries need to conduct radical reforms in the public sector, fiscal policy, industrial trade and investment policy. They also need to tackle corruption, simplify administrative procedure, strenghten property rights and the lawful state. All this with the aim to change economic structure and shift from achievements of the second and third to fourth technological revolution. Only if these reforms are successfuly implemented the Western Balkan countries can hope to avoid the Greek scenario and possibly experience the Irish scenario.

scholarly journals Where are the eastern boundaries of the European Union?

2006 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-468
Author(s):  
Ana Jovic-Lazic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Relevant Factor ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Eu

The EU enlargement to 25 members has significantly changed the political and economic map of the contemporary Europe. EU has become a relevant factor in international relations. At the same time there are certain dilemmas concerning the prospects for the future development and nature of the Union. Considering the fact that the EU geopolitical position has moved eastwards the author wonders how far the Union might spread towards the East, i.e. where the boundaries of the united Europe might be, and what should be the EU policy towards its Eastern neighbors (Russia, Byelorussia, the Ukraine and Moldova).

scholarly journals New EU Enlargement Strategy Towards the Western Balkans and Its Impact on Rule of Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 37-58
Author(s):  
Marina Matić Bošković ◽  
Jelena Kostić
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
Enlargement Strategy ◽  
The Eu

The rule of law is incorporated in the EU Founding Treaties and case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU and was included as a key requirement already in 1993 Copenhagen accession criteria. The EU enlargement is not only territorial increase, but also transposition of EU acquis to third countries. Since 1993, the monitoring mechanism of the rule of law reform in the EU accession countries was enhanced, including two specific negotiation chapters, Chapter 23 – judiciary and fundamental rights and Chapter 24 – justice, freedom and security. Over the last two decades, the EU was struggling to develop an adequate mechanism in this area, from mechanism for coordination and verification, to action plans for Chapter 23, to more specific tools like perception and experience surveys of the judiciary and functional reviews. Due to the challenges to measure progress and track record in the rule of law, in February 2020 the European Commission presented the new approach to EU Enlargement that aims to push reforms forward. The intention is to make the accession negotiations more credible, predictable and dynamic and criteria for assessing reforms in the accession countries will be based on the clearer criteria and more concise EU requirements. The article examines how EU enlargement policies influenced the rule of law reforms in Western Balkan countries over the years and what could be expected from the new approach. The research hypothesis is based on the correlation between Enlargement strategy towards the Western Balkans and its impact on rule of law in countries of the mentioned region. The methodological approach applied in the assessment is based on analysis of Enlargement strategy and other EU and national documents, as well as results of the work of judicial institutions in order to provide insight into the bottlenecks of the state rule of law in Western Balkan countries and enable identification of recommendations for improvement. The authors concluded that the new methodology would improve the measurability of the achieved results in the rule of law area, however, the approach might slow down the accession process of Serbia and Montenegro as a frontrunners in the process.

European Forms of Belonging

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleš Debeljak
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
The Other ◽  
Imagined Communities ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
The Eu

The article questions collective identities of “imagined communities” involved in the process of European Union (EU) enlargement. Focusing on issues of citizenship, unity and diversity, nationalism, and patriotism, the author explores the process of EU enlargement from the viewpoint of the “other Europe” in general and Slovenia in particular. It presents the dilemmas of “new democracies” of Central and Eastern Europe and their reluctance to hand over their only recently won national sovereignty to a transnational entity of the EU. The author approaches the question of exclusivism and inclusivism through the scope of modern citizenship and the need of multiple identities that provide not only tolerance but also understanding and possible respect for the Other. On the other hand, it presents the strategies of both sides, the nationalism of candidate states, and the gethoisation (Schengen) of member states as they outline the possibility of a dim scenario of enlarged but internally divided Europe.

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