EDITORIAL - Regulation of the Media Environment in the Digital Age: An Examination of Innovative Tools and Practices Aligned with EU Standards

Violence, during war time of through large-scale repression, leaves societies scarred. How did European Union (EU) accession influence political dealing with the past in Bulgaria and Serbia (2000-2012)? Both countries experienced repressive socialism. Serbia additionally has a war past. The EU, it appears, was not consistent in addressing historical violence, especially repressive socialism. Nevertheless, Bulgarian and Serbian political parties – from left to right – claimed that EU accession required to either confront or forget their violent past(s). Some parties demanded justice to become a worthy EU member state; others made the exact opposite argument and propagated forgiveness in light of the European future. It is actually not that strange to connect the European future and violent history. The EU’s story of who we are today is rooted in how we interpret history. Specifically, it stems from our supposed triumph over fascism ánd (a recent addition to the story) over communism. The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize confirmed this identity. But Brussels has little control over the use of these stories. Nor could the EU fully control how parties would interpret its inconsistent policy. Sometimes, (imagined) demands of EU accession indeed helped achieving arrests of Serb war criminals – ending up in The Hague. EU accession was also essential in opening the archives of the Bulgarian socialist secret services. However, this dissertation warns that right-wing Bulgarian and Serbian political parties have used and still use EU accession to kick-start nationalist historical revision.

The knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of the high school students on Croatia’s European Union (EU) accession event were omitted in numerous public opinion polls conducted since the 2013 accession. Therefore, the paper shows key benefits of Croatia’s EU accession and the recent attitudes of high school students about the meaning of this event for their future lives. Research methods include desktop analysis regarding previous researches of the population attitudes and a quantitative survey conducted in January 2017 on a sample of a total of 1944 school graduates who were interviewed on issues of knowledge, perception and attitude to the event of Croatia’s entrance and membership in the EU. The results point out that although Croatia acquires significant benefits from the EU accession, the very event is not recognized as being the key one by high school students. Considering that in many cases the youth opinion is the best indicator of overall social problems and considering the future programs and obligations as well as the role expected from the youth in implementation of these programs, the research findings on the perception of the event of Croatia’s accession to the EU are a field within which future policy activities are envisaged.

The Roma have been referred to as a ‘European Minority,’ reflecting both their nature as a truly transnational minority and their importance for the process of European integration in Eastern Europe. Research generally argues that the European accession process, which has greatly influenced the development of politics in the region, has had a very direct effect on the states' policies towards this disadvantaged minority. This paper proposes to investigate the link between European Union (EU) accession and minority policy by comparing the situation of the Roma in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Romania. The paper uses survey data to compare the differences that exist between the situation of the Roma and members of the majority groups along several socio-economic indicators in these four countries. Our findings add to a body of literature that finds limited support for the role of EU accession in influencing Roma policy in Eastern Europe. The EU accession process seems to have narrowed the gap between Roma and the majority in several areas, while not achieving the expected result in a few others.

This article investigates the extent to which European Union (EU) accession and EU funding contribute to the professionalization of interest groups in Slovenia. Have EU accession and funding had a more profound impact on the professionalization of interest groups in Slovenia than the shift from socialism to capitalism? Our novel empirical evidence is drawn from two surveys of interest groups in Slovenia—the first in 1996 eight years prior to Slovenia’s membership of the EU (in 2004) and the second in 2012 eight years after its accession. Our findings show that EU accession and funding accentuate the professionalization of interest groups. However, these processes are intertwined with the partitocratic role of national political parties and parties mediate the shape and structure of interest group professionalization via their decisions on the allocation of EU funding to groups.

Allowing for the comparison of agricultural policies among countries and supporting the European integration process, a methodological tool was developed called the APM (Agri-Policy Measures tool). The tool enables the cross country qualitative and quantitative analysis of budgetary support to agriculture using uniform classification and systemization template primarily based on the current EU concept of the policy pillars. All agricultural policy measures are grounded on three main pillars: market and direct producer support measures, structural and rural development measures and general measures related to agriculture. Total budgetary support to agriculture should represent the sum of all transfers related to agriculture from all sources, but without administrative costs and transfers to non-agricultural sectors. The tool was applied for the analysis and comparison of agricultural policies in the Western Balkan countries and it proved to be useful for policy analysis in relation to the EU accession process.Keywords: agricultural policy, budgetary transfers, an assessment tool, Western Balkan, European Union enlargementJEL: Q181. IntroductionThe form, type and scope of budgetary transfers to agriculture, as well as their development over time, are important for agricultural policy analysis. A consistent and reliable policy measure database is the necessary foundation for effective agricultural policy-making based on a policy cycle. The main problem of quantitative analyses of budgetary transfers to agriculture is that a great variety of measures are applied by individual countries. One cannot obtain an overall picture based on the analysis of each individual measure; measures must be merged into larger groups with similar content. The merging of the measures can be done based on very different criteria which is often the case.Due to the differences in agricultural policy concept and measures, the European Union (EU) accession is a economic and political challenge for every acceding country. By the date of accession, a country needs to be prepared for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), its complex administration and instruments. After the accession, a new model of supports is introduced, which is usually significantly different from the existing policy in terms of the amount of support and the content of measures (Erjavec 2007). The efficient implementation of needed policy reforms requests a solid data base about the pre-accession agricultural policy measures in comparison with the CAP instruments.In the EU, the agricultural policy measures are grouped according to the policy field and the source of financing, which are both closely related to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) regulations in a specific programming period. Taking into account the fund from which measures are financed, CAP is currently divided into two main pillars that are also recognized in the agricultural-economic literature (Gay et all, 2005). The first pillar is financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and consists of a series of measures relating mostly to interventions in agricultural markets and direct payments to farmers set down within the framework of a common organization of the markets and other market-related regulations, although some measures of a more general character can also be found here (veterinary and plant-health issues; promotion of agricultural products; issues related to genetic resources; agricultural accounting information systems - F ADN; agricultural survey systems; fisheries markets) (European Council, 2005). For the measures financed by EAGF, there is a uniform accounting classification (EC, 2009) which enables the monitoring of budgetary expenditures by sub-categories and measures.The second pillar is financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and consists of measures within the framework of rural development programs of the Member States implemented in the current programming period. …

This essay assesses Greece role in determining the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s (FYROM’s) European Union (EU) accession process. Based on documentary evidence, extensive interviews with decision-makers and leaked diplomatic cables, it emerges that Skopje’s path towards Brussels has consistently passed through Athens, linked to disputes concerning the republic’s name and good neighbourly relations. When improvements in bilateral relations have been evinced (1995–2004, 2004–2006), FYROM signed a stabilization and association agreement and became an EU candidate state. During periods of diplomatic confrontation (1991–1994, 2006–2011), the new republic was non-recognized by Athens, did not accede to North Atlantic Treaty Organization and failed to get a date to begin accession negotiations. It is concluded that only if Greece’s relative gain concerns are adequately assuaged will FYROM’s Euro-Atlantic path be completed.

‘Anti-gender’ has become a rallying cry for many populist radical-right parties and movements across Europe and the world. Georgia’s ruling party, ‘Georgian Dream’, is no exception to this. However, ‘Georgian Dream’ has gone further by undermining the country’s European Union (EU) accession with anti-gender conspiracy theories. This article does not ask whether this is a reasonable or legitimate strategy. Instead, it puts the focus on the asymmetry between internal EU decision making and the expectations expressed vis-à-vis EU accession candidates. It finds that misgivings experienced by some EU member states in the Council of the EU are now directly feeding into the rhetoric of EU-hostile third-country governments.

At the present time, there are no clear outcomes in Turkey's European Union (EU) accession process. By the end of the two years following the rise of the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the government in 2002, Turkey's accession process entered into a stalemate. Potent political opposition to the Turkish candidacy in Europe has escalated, despite a staunch Turkish political commitment since 1999 to meet the Copenhagen Criteria for admission. In this article, we argue that Turkey's EU accession process has contributed to opening political spaces for Islamism and ethno-nationalism in the country, ironically producing societal and political forces undermining Turkish membership. We inquire first into the practical reasons obstructing Turkey's membership to the Union and second into the societal and political implications of the continuation of the bleak possibility of EU membership for Turkey. As far as the latter is considered, our focus is limited to an analysis of the politicization and institutionalization of the ethnic and Islamist politics in Turkey within the process of democracy. By the end of the two years following the rise of the pro-Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the Turkish government in 2002, Turkey's European Union accession process had entered into a stalemate. Paradoxically, the Islamists, who had broken away from the traditionally Islamist oriented Virtue Party (FP) and founded the AKP, became the self-proclaimed conservative democrats of Turkey and fervent supporters of EU membership. The reason for this enthusiasm was strategic and two-fold: On the one hand, the AKP pragmatically drew upon the discourses of human rights and democracy, which constituted the main premises of the EU accession requirements, against the secular state establishment for a political opening to legitimately maneuver in. On the other, the party used its successfully constructed pro-EU face to gather support from different sectors of the society, crosscutting class and ideological divisions. Hence, it garnered support among provincial capitalists, small bourgeoisie, urbanized and rural poor, left intelligentsia, as well as the high society of the business world, and emerged as the new center-right political party - analogous to what the Motherland Party (ANAP) and the True Path Party (DYP) had previously been. Nevertheless, while the AKP's liberal policies remained mainly in terms of extensive privatization of the public sector and a commitment to an IMF-led marketization, it failed to pass the test on issues such as freedom of expression, representation, transparency, accountability, and social equity ..However,theseshortcomingshave,by. byHowever, these shortcomings have, by and large, been ignored by a majority of the press and intelligentsia that faced one form or another of pressure, and/or collaborated out of mutual interest. Undeniably, Turkey's EU candidacy has been diplomatically troubling for the EU since the official negotiations began in December 2004. Political opposition to the Turkish candidacy in Europe has escalated, despite a staunch political commitment by Turkey to meet the Copenhagen Criteria. 1 Indeed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed the attitude shared by many European leaders when she recently expressed doubts about the viability of Turkish membership in the EU. 2 French President Nicolas Sarkozy is another ardent opponent of Turkey's accession. The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, also declared that any EU enlargement after the membership of Bulgaria and Romania would need to wait until all constitutional and structural issues within the EU had been worked out. 3 It is not surprising then that the EU suspended talks with Turkey in December 2006 on eight policy chapters - among them, the conflict between Turkey and the Greek-majority government of Cyprus. 4 In Turkey, the pro-PKK (Partiya Karkeren-I Kurdistan, Kurdistan Workers Party)/ pro-Kurdish groups, including the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP, recently renamed the Democratic Society Party or DTP) are among those that experienced one of the highest levels of frustration with the EU accession process. …

The current empirical research and normative arguments on physician-assisted dying (PAD) in the Netherlands seem insufficient to provide ethical guidance to general practitioners in the practice of PAD, due to...

ABSTRACTThe transformation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights into a “standard for civilisation” has not been without consequences. With LGBT Pride parades becoming a symbol for Europeanness in the European Union (EU) accession process, this article asks how the litmus test character of Belgrade Pride has transformed LGBT politics in Serbia. Empirically, the analysis provides an in-depth analysis of how Serbia’s EU accession process has shaped the politics of Belgrade Pride between 2001 and 2015 and vice versa. It is argued that the international symbolic usage of Pride is no innocent practice as it has foreclosed its local politicality. Indeed, whilst Belgrade Pride became politicised as a litmus test in the EU accession process, domestically it developed into an apolitical ritualised event devoid of LGBT politics.

Despite the significance of politics and public diplomacy for nation brands, there is little research on the topic. The study seeks to contribute to the literature by investigating Turkey's European Union (EU) accession, which seems endangered by negative public opinion in other EU member states, as a case to understand how nation brand images can influence a given course of action in international politics. Specifically, through an exploratory qualitative research, the content of Turkey's nation brand image, its antecedents, and potential consequences within the political context of the country's accession negotiation are explored. The findings suggest that Turkey, at the moment, does not appear to be a well-run nation brand. Not only do the poor results indicate room for improvement, but also the management of Turkey in all relevant nation brand dimensions does not seem promising with regard to a successful EU application process. Furthermore, the analysis point to a truly complicated positioning dilemma for Turkey's nation brand and the challenge of accomplishing an integrated nation brand management. The paper concludes by outlining policy and research implications.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) has difficulty integrating and moving closer to the goal of becoming a member of the European Union (EU). From the legal perspective, the main issue is the need to fulfil the accession criteria. The article aims to examine the relationship between the obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and Basic Freedoms (ECHR) and the obligations related to the European Union (EU) accession process, with emphasis on Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) as an EU membership candidate country. At first sight, those two obligations are separate. However, upon close examination, a strong link between those two obligations can be established using normative research with a historical approach, statute and case-based approach. On the other hand, the constitutional system of B&H has been described as discriminatory by numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and, most prominently, by the Sejdic-Finci case. B&H has difficulties implementing those judgments. Implementing those judgments is also set as one of the requirements of EU accession. Even if the two obligations seem separate at first sight, the ECHR has a special position within the law of the EU and is especially important in the accession of new Member States, including B&H. The research results show a special position of the ECHR in EU law and a link between the obligations under the ECHR and EU accession.

This paper analyses the causes, consequences, and policy implications of Lithuanian emigration following the country’s European Union (EU) accession in May 2004. After placing Lithuanian emigration in its historical context, the study assesses the recent dynamics, including the driving forces and characteristics of Lithuanian emigration at both the international and domestic level. The study finds that the primary determinants of this movement are both demand‐ and supply‐side factors. On the demand side, the labour shortages, decline in the working age population, and desire for cheaper labour in Western European countries function to attract Lithuanian labour. Concurrently, lower wages, higher unemployment, and the generally less developed economic conditions in Lithuania are encouraging Lithuanians to take advantage of the greater mobility that came with EU accession. The expanding networks linking migrants and potential migrants are facilitating this out‐migration, as well as the social mind‐set by which emigration is a perceived solution to socio‐economic difficulties. This study concludes that the consequences of this new emigration reality are mixed. The free movement of workers has helped to relieve pressure on the domestic labour market, drive down unemployment, place upward pressure on wages, and increase the remittances rate to Lithuania. However, concern is not ill‐founded; recent emigration has introduced labour market shortages, placed greater demographic pressure on the country, and increased the likelihood of brain drain. This study argues, therefore, that while Lithuanian emigration cannot and should not be stopped, Lithuania does have policy alternatives as a sending‐country that will help to mitigate the costs of emigration and maximize the benefits for the country’s long‐term development.

This study conducts a critical discourse analysis on Turkey’s European Union (EU) accession, focusing on the narratives of TÜSİAD and MÜSİAD. Employing the Discourse-Historical Approach within Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the research explores how economic, political, and social factors shape these groups’ stances on EU accession. The findings reveal TÜSİAD’s advocacy for economic integration and democratic reforms, in contrast with MÜSİAD’s emphasis on economic sovereignty and pragmatic EU engagement. These perspectives reflect the interplay of interests within Turkish society and broader EU policy trends, highlighting these groups’ roles in shaping Turkey’s EU accession discourse.

This chapter relates economic development and transition with farmer demand for four components of agricultural biodiversity found on family farms in Hungary using a combination of a stated preference approach andsecondary data. Family farms in Hungary are known traditionally as ‘home gardens’. Production on these farms is labour-intensive, with few purchased inputs. High levels of crop and variety diversity, and integrated crop and livestock production, are typical of home gardens. It is hypothesized that farmers’ demand for home gardens will decrease as Hungary’s economic transition proceeds and local, regional and national markets are integrated with European Union (EU) accession. This hypothesis is tested with a choice experiment conducted across 22 settlements in three regions with varying levels of economic development and market integration. Findings indicate that farmers in more economically developed, less isolated settlements will choose to depend less on home gardens for food security and will prefer lower levels of agricultural biodiversity. These results suggest that a vital cultural institution may disappear with EU accession. Data can be used to identify the settlements and farmers who would benefit most by agri-environmental policies that support their maintenance, at least public cost. In some situations, supporting their maintenance is consistent with the multifunctional agriculture approach stated in the EU’s reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).