The Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina Into the European Union

2022 ◽  
pp. 244-259
Author(s):  
Sead Turcalo ◽  
Elmir Sadikovic ◽  
Elvis Fejzic

This chapter focuses on the analysis of the EU integration process of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dealing with the internal and external political challenges that country is facing on its path towards aspired EU membership. As one of the main internal challenges, the authors recognize a very pronounced ethnocracy and leaderocracy that captures democratic process, making the country unstable and unable to fulfill criteria even to achieve the status of candidate for EU membership. Furthermore, there is a strong influence of the neighboring countries, which were involved in the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and continue to play very often an obstructive role in internal politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the authors argue, in BiH, the issue of Euro-Atlantic integration is less a matter of political and economic transition, and more, it is not primarily an issue of stabilizing the peace and creating fundamental preconditions for overall development.

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
Alessandra Silveira ◽  
Claudia McKenny Engström

The current European crisis shows a crucial disjunction between the expectations of EU citizens and the institutional forms of political integration available to them. The crisis imposes challenges to the EU integration process, which sees its legitimacy questioned, above all in the eyes of the citizens of Member States undergoing intervention, who live with harsh restrictions and low expectations of improvement. EU citizens have never been so attentive to the developments of the EU integration – as testifies the rejection demonstrated in May 2014 elections to EU Parliament, now counting over 100 anti-EU voices. In this context, it is important to scrutinize whether the developing of an EU citizenship as “citizenship of rights” could perform some role in this scenario, putting it into perspective in order to grasp its effects on the legal nature of the EU polity. The status of EU citizenship is constructed around the paradigm of individual rights. Being an EU citizen basically means one is the holder of rights protected by the EU legal order – especially fundamental rights. Therefore, it is important to know to what extent the culture of rights has been strengthened by the change legal status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU) following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009.1 In short, the text aims at knowing in which measure the fundamental rights dynamics in times of crisis affect the EU integration process itself.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Bojan Matkovski ◽  
Stanislav Zekić ◽  
Danilo Đokić ◽  
Žana Jurjević ◽  
Ivan Đurić

Trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) significantly influenced the liberalisation of agri-food products in Western Balkan (WB) countries. In all Western Balkan countries, there has been an intensification of the trade of agri-food products and a partial change in the regional and commodity structures of trade. This paper aims to identify comparative advantages of agri-food sectors and consider its tendencies during the EU integration process. Additionally, this paper will discuss some opportunities for improvement of the export positions of agri-food products. In that context and based on the literature review, the indexes of revealed comparative advantages and its modified version will be used as a main method for analysis in this research. Results showed that all Western Balkan countries, except Albania, have comparative advantages in exporting agri-food products. It is evident that Serbia has the highest level of comparative advantages in this sector. Moreover, this paper suggests that all countries should aim to provide the best possible positions for their agri-food products during pre-accession negotiations for EU membership and take the necessary steps towards increasing the level of competitiveness in the common EU market.


2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 80-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Schneider

The transition to the CAP and admission to the internal market triggered a shock wave in Austria which caused fundamental changes in the country&rsquo;s farming and food industries. Behavioural patterns stuck in traditional routines and petrified structures began to break up. The resulting thrust towards modernisation has been a major success of the EU integration.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />Eastern enlargement, about to be embarked on by the European Union, will have a&nbsp;greater impact on Austrian agriculture than the country&rsquo;s accession to the EU ever had. Farmers will have to brace for a loss of market shares and an additional pressure to adjust. The rural regions bordering the accession candidates will be particularly hit and thus require special attention in terms of economic policy measures. Agriculture and rural regions in Eastern Europe will profit from the EU-membership.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Juliana Gjinko

Nearly thirty years after the fall of communism in Albania, European integration has been the main driving force for change and the real catalyst for reform. Today, a vast majority of Albanians continue to be convinced that the only way to develop, modernize and guarantee security is a full integration into the European family. The problem is not simply the duration of such an intermediate phase between obtaining candidate status and a full membership of the European Union. In fact, Albanians themselves are increasingly aware that the road to full membership of the European Union will be long, and that it will require a series of major and profound changes in the country, especially in the areas of the rule of law and functioning of institutions, along with implementing various standards that a society must meet in order to achieve this goal. The aim of this paper is to analyze Albanian use and abuse of the EU integration process in internal political discourse, reforms and transformation. A number of documents, publications and public speeches are examined in order to evaluate the impact of integration in this small, developing, post-communist country.


2021 ◽  
pp. 506-544
Author(s):  
Jan Wouters ◽  
Frank Hoffmeister ◽  
Geert De Baere ◽  
Thomas Ramopoulos

This chapter deals with the status of international agreements of EU Member States in the EU legal order. With reference to relevant European Court of Justice (ECJ) case law, it provides a useful overview of different categories. Agreements concluded between Member States with third States before EU membership enjoy certain protection under Article 351 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) whereas agreements concluded during EU membership need to fully comply with EU law. The chapter also discusses inter-se agreements between Member States alone. Again, it recalls the relevant case law, according to which such agreements may either become inapplicable or be extended to benefit all EU citizens. The chapter exemplifies this issue with reference to the newest jurisprudence of the Court in the Achmea case on intra-EU investment agreements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 169-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muamer Hirkić

In a recent survey conducted by the Directorate for European Integration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it appears that 43.6% of respondents believe that there is an alternative to the European Union (EU) membership. The survey was conducted by using the Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) method, on a sample that is representative for the entire country. Therefore, this article will explore the possibility of pursuing foreign policy that is geared towards several geopolitical centres and implications for the country. Primarily, this refers to alternative development models offered by international actors such as China, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Although the EU often emphasises commitment to the Western Balkan region, both internal and external processes are becoming heavily politicised. In this regard, the author will also attempt to examine some of these processes and the main stakeholders (both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union), who could stall the future European integration.


2000 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 301-326
Author(s):  
Jörg Monar

Ten years ago justice and home affairs (JHA) did not yet even exist as a EC/EU policy-making area. Yet—after modest beginnings in the context of the Maastricht Treaty’s “Third Pillar” in 1993—the development of EU policies in the JHA area was transformed into a fundamental treaty objective by the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1999, Article 2 TEU providing for the maintenance and the development of the European Union as an “area of freedom, security and justice” (AFSJ). This new integration objective was strengthened by the introduction of a range of new policy objectives, the communitarisation of asylum, immigration and other issues of the former “Third Pillar”, the incorporation of the Schengen acquis, new and more appropriate legal instruments and improved judicial control. This, and the results of the Tampere European Council of October 1999, led to a further expansion of the scope of policy-making in justice and home affairs, with dozens of new legislative acts being adopted, a considerable number of new legislative initiatives and even the establishment of new bodies—such as the prosecution agency Eurojust and the European Police College. There is no other example in the history of EC/EU integration process of an area of previously loose intergovernmental co-operation ever having made its way so quickly to the top of the Union’s political and legislative agenda.


Politeja ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (54) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Bujwid-Kurek

Post‑Yugoslav States in the EU Enlargement Process – Political ReflectionThe main research goal of the article is the assessment of the degree of preparation Post‑Yugoslav state for accession to the European Union. The analysis included states such as the Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Serbia, Montenegro and the Republic of Kosovo (in the order of announcing independence). An in‑depth analysis confirms that the Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro have the status of EU candidate states. The other two: Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Kosovo have the status of potential EU candidates. According to the European Commission, the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro have the highest chances of EU membership, probably in 2025. There are many problems that the Post‑Yugoslav states are struggling with. These states have to “learn” democracy. It should underline that there are still unregulated matters as like as rule of law (implementation in practice), corruption or crime (including organized crime) as well.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Constantinos Ikonomou

A long-term assessment of the EU integration process is attempted for the1971-2015 period, by comparing per capita Gross Domestic Product (in constant Purchasing Power Parities) and its change, for EU-15 and non-EU states that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A growing divergence is found between Greece but also Portugal and the EU southern periphery on the one hand, and Luxembourg, Ireland and Scandinavian states on the other that have benefi ted from EU integration, especially after the Eurozone was formed. Those EU-15 members that have joined the Eurozone have not benefi ted as much as non-members. It is suggested that two types of states can be trapped by the integration process: The relative or absolute losers of the currency zone, like Greece and states like the UK that have benefi ted less from integration, while choosing to remain at an earlier integration stage. Given the mix of monetary and fi scal policies pursued, resolving the former problem will require setting-up a common production union to advance competitiveness and co-operation, while solution to the latter should avoid the risk of disintegration and of the permanent loss of EU membership.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart James Turnbull-Dugarte ◽  
Daniel Devine

The mantra of “take back control” has become a staple of eurosceptics across the European Union. At the centre of the slogan’s message is a call to arms against the (perceived) challenge that EU membership represents for national sovereignty. In this paper, we theorise that supranational decisions taken by the European Court of Justice can increase ‘polity scepticism’ - increased opposition to the EU and decreased satisfaction with national democracy – by cueing citizens regarding the effects of EU integration on the perception of diluted sovereignty. Empirically, we leverage quasi-experimental evidence to support our theory, establishing that ECJ rulings have a significant causal effect on euroscepticism and dissatisfaction with democracy. The implications of our findings suggest that EU institutions seeking to ensure compliance with the rule of law and EU norms should proceed with caution. Interventionist action may backfire by increasing scrutiny of the EU’s legitimacy and undermining polity support.


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