European Union Enlargement Process Research Articles

Engagement against All Odds? Navigating Member States’ Contestation of EU Policy on Kosovo

ABSTRACT Disagreements between European Union (EU) member states constrain the Union’s capacity to manage conflicts such as Kosovo-Serbia. While Kosovo has long received EU support, five EU member states do not recognise its independence. How does the EU manage to work around member states’ vetoes and mitigate contestation? In contrast to previous scholarship, the analysis of the EU enlargement process and visa liberalisation, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and the EULEX mission illustrate how institutional, technical and diplomatic solutions have allowed the provision of support to Kosovo, despite internal disagreements. EU member states have delegated to EU institutions the responsibility of overseeing day-to-day conflict management and integration policies concerning Kosovo and Serbia. EU institutions also use technical and constructively ambiguous language to manage conflicts and navigate the absence of political consensus regarding Kosovo’s statehood. Additionally, the EU has fostered diplomatic collaboration with the United States (US) and with actors from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to navigate through the Kosovo-Serbia conflict.

Pioneers of German-Polish inclusive exchange: Jaczewski’s and Kluge’s Europeanization in education despite the Iron Curtain

Historical and autobiographical approaches are combined with interviews to analyze the case of the Europa-Kontakt in pre-1989 Poland and West Germany within the framework of Europeanization. The international education encounters exemplify the tendencies to Europeanize, which emerged in both countries despite the Iron Curtain. The painful relationship between Poland and Germany is contrasted with the personal trust and cooperation between Polish and German exchange pioneers since the 1970s. Their pioneering work focused on multinational inclusion, participation, intercultural learning, gifted education, creativity, and building leadership skills. It merged German adaptation of the United States’ HighScope model with philosophy of encounters typical of scouting tradition, Janusz Korczak’s pedagogy, and Carl Rogers’ humanistic psychology, preparing ground for the 1989–2004 European Union enlargement process.

European Union’s enlargement fatigue: Russia’s and China’s rise in Southeast Europe?

Enlargement fatigue has descended upon the European Union (EU) institutions, which remain focused on resolving the Brexit crisis and ongoing internal reforms. This multi-faceted phenomenon has directly caused the so-called accession fatigue in potential EU members, which are increasingly turning to other geopolitical alternatives. Russia and China are the new dominant powerbrokers in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood, courting political and business elites in EU candidate states and offering an alternative foreign policy option which contrasts with the stalled EU enlargement process. This paper discusses the rise of these external powers in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood, suggesting three scenarios for the future of the Balkan region where the EU, Russia and China are more vigorously vying for influence than ever before.

The evolution of India-Central Europe relations after the Cold War

The primary purpose of the article is to present the long term ties between India and Central Europe, and examine the transformation of their relationship after the end of the Cold War. Using J.A. Braveboy-Wagner’s liberal approach to diplomacy and foreign policy-making of developing countries as a tool of analysis, the article shows how the executive preferences of political leaders, historical narratives, and the strength of local values such as soft power, have influenced the political and economic cooperation between India and the Visegrad Group of countries that constitute the core of Central Europe – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. This method helps to show that contrary to the widely held opinion1 that the bonds between the Indian subcontinent and Central Europe were an artificial creation of the Soviet Union, they were instead created much earlier by contacts of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Rabindranath Tagore in the first half of the 20th century. Indeed, a mutual interest and fascination between the two parties, combined with the complementary of needs of both sides after the end of WWII resulted in the development of a promising relationship in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Unfortunately, despite a lot of effort this promising partnership has failed to deliver since the end of the Cold War, and this paper is an attempt to find an explanation for this situation. The European’s focus on integrating with European institutions on one hand, and India’s new foreign policy priorities that were driven by modernization and regional, and then global power aspirations, on the other hand, weakened the intensity of this cooperation for two decades. The completing of the European Union enlargement process in 2004, and the increasing influence of China in Central Europe since 2012, has triggered a reaction by India in the form of the creation of India-Central Europe Business Forum in 2014, which until now has not yet met expectations. The article points to the potential of the Visegrad Group+ (V4+) formula of cooperation, which still possesses many untapped opportunities.

The Berlin Process. Bringing the Western Balkan Region Closer to the European Union

Abstract For the countries of the Western Balkans, the path to membership in the European Union (EU) has been particularly tortuous. Its slow progress has created frustration among applicant countries. In 2014 Germany, stepping into the political void that had formed, inaugurated what has come to be known as the Berlin Process, an initiative aimed at injecting new energy into the dormant EU enlargement process. The author examines the political activities initiated between 2014 and 2019, analysing the official documentation of the Berlin Process along with publications such as policy papers and media commentaries. She concludes that although meaningful and proactive measures have been taken, such efforts have not been successful in persuading or enabling the Western Balkan states to implement the political and economic reforms required for EU accession.

Europeanization of the Balkans, or Balkanization of Europe?

Europeanization of the Balkans, or Balkanization of Europe? Vasko Naumovski (bio) The European Union enlargement process has been a substantial benefit for European citizens and has proved to be the most successful transition of the post-communist countries. Nevertheless, the Balkans region remains without a clear perspective for full integration into the EU, creating potential for further uncertainty and even conflict. In attempting to contain the "Powder Keg of Europe," greater attention needs to be paid to the ending of bilateral disputes and the enabling of selfsustainability in the region. This article analyzes the conflicting concepts of Europeanization and Balkanization, discussing the place of the Balkans in the European Union and internal challenges to the EU such as the rise of nationalism, security threats, the migrant crisis, the lack of consensus, and even fragmentation. Challenges faced by the EU today are different from those in the 1980s or 1990s, yet these past lessons should be taken into consideration while defining the future developments of the Union, including its final borders, decision-making reforms, and values shared by all of its current and potential members states. A History of Fragmentation The Balkans have a reputation for normalized conflict and bloodshed. History, religion, ethnicity, territory, and political ideology have served to provoke violence in what has seemed like a never-ending cycle. Overlapping foreign interests and intervention, as well as independence movements, have increased the explosive potential, earning the Balkans the nickname "Powder Keg of Europe." In the past, nearly all Balkan ethnic groups struggled to create their "great nation-states"—often at the expense of their neighbors. In the years before the First World War, ideas of "pan-Slavic" unity in the Balkans promoted by Imperial Russia, as well as attempts to expand the spheres of influence of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, created a volatile environment in which local events often led to major regional conflicts. The 20th-century fragmentation of the Balkan Peninsula began with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. Subsequent divisions of its remaining territory took place during the Balkan Wars, the First and Second World Wars, and eventually culminated in the fall of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The decline of the Ottoman Empire1 (mainly due to failed reform attempts, inefficient bureaucracy and repeated uprisings), the formation of national identities, and the rise of newly created nation-states significantly increased the potential for conflict in the Balkans at the end of the 19th century. The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 by Russia and its increased pressure on the region were merely additions to the powder keg. Subsequently, these tensions were heightened by the outbreak of World [End Page 120] War I, as neither Balkan war seemed to satisfy the aspirations of the countries involved. After World War I, the creation of a unified South Slavic state—into what ultimately became Yugoslavia—seemed to have stabilized most of the region until the second half of the 20th century. Nevertheless, the region's proximity to both the Eastern and Western military blocs during the Cold War, internal ethnic-based irredentism, a failing economy, and ideological diversity led to the most violent clashes in Europe after World War II. In particular, the breakup of Yugoslavia and its aftermath caused a number of conflicts across its territory: the 1991 conflict between the Yugoslav People's Army (YPA) and Slovenian Defense Forces; the Croatian Serbs/YPA versus Croatia in 1991–95; the Bosnian Serbs/YPA against Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats in 1992–95; the Army of Yugoslavia versus the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998–99; the 1999 NATO campaign against the Army of Yugoslavia; the Army of Yugoslavia versus the Liberation Army of Preshevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac in 1992–2001; and the Army of the Republic of Macedonia against the National Liberation Army in 2001. All of these developments gave rise to the term "Balkanization," which refers to ethnic conflict within multiethnic states, as well as, more specifically, the ethnic cleansing and civil war that often occur following the dis-integration of such states.2 Similarly, it has been described as the act of breaking up regions or groups into smaller, often hostile units.3 The...

Northern Cyprus as an ‘inner neighbour’: A critical analysis of European Union enlargement in Cyprus

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.

After ’Brexit:’ The Western Balkans in the European Waiting Room

The European enlargement process in the western Balkans is in trouble. This paper starts by briefly reviewing the much debated, and quite well known, ‘enlargement fatigue’ the European Union (EU) has been experiencing largely, but not exclusively, as a result of the post-2008 economic, financial and political crisis in Europe. While this crisis has slowed considerably the EU enlargement process, the post-2016 ‘Brexit’ risks postponing it indefinitely. Second, it notes how a less known, but equally important, version of the enlargement fatigue is found in western Balkan states where various levels of Euroscepticism, or Euro-fatigue, have been developing. Third, and finally, the paper discusses some alternatives to the western Balkans’ integration into the EU, including the development of a ‘privileged partnership,’ various forms of ‘differentiated integration,’ and the construction of a ’macro-region.’ Overall, we argue that the EU’s approach to the region ultimately depends on its own institutional development.

Effects of institutional environment and technology development on payment choice

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the combination of institutional factors and tech­nology advances as determinants for the choice of payment instruments. The theoretical set up suggests that countries that enter into a new institutional environment adopt the attitudes of the accepting group towards the payment choices as a consequence of institutional pressure and tech­nology development. We apply the results of the model to the European Union enlargement process of 2004. Our findings confirm the relevance of both institutional environment and technology de­velopment in retail payment choice decisions particular to Central and Eastern European Countries.

Economic Perspectives Regarding the European Integration in the Balkan Region

Versiunea acestei lucrari in limba româna poate fi gasita la: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2597283After the Soviet domination collapse in the Eastern Europe, the countries from the Balkans, with the exception of Greece and Turkey, entered into a quite long period of economic and politic instability. The difficulties of the transition to the market economy, the ethnic, religious and social tensions, and the wars from the former Yugoslavia made that almost the whole Balkan region to be perceived as an unfavorable zone for honest business. From this reason, the chances of the European Union enlargement process in the Balkan area seemed quite reduced. However, step-by-step, the economic reforms progress and the social, religious and ethnic conflicts solving gave an impulse to the national economies recovery and to the politic systems consolidation. After the politic, social and economic stability setting up, some former socialist countries from the Balkans began to be considered as an attractive destination for the foreign direct investments and as candidates with real chances for the adhesion to the European Union. Slovenia took part in the first enlargement towards the east, while Romania and Bulgaria were in the second enlargement. Although in the present the European Union enlargement process evolution is difficult to foresee, the possibility of other Balkan countries adhesion must not be neglected. In this paper we will approach, from an economic perspective, some circumstances of the European Union enlargement process in the Balkans. We will analyze both some significant obstacles in the way of this process and the modalities of surpassing them.

THE ENLARGEMENT POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS LINK WITH THE EXTERNAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE TURKISH CASE

One of the primary themes which occupies the agenda of the European Union is the issue of enlargement. After the accession of Austria, Finland, and Sweden in 1995, the Union is faced with the task of making a decision concerning the member- ship of applicant Central, Eastern, and Southern European countries. Following, the conclusion of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference, the enlargement negotiations with Cyprus and possibly Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, are due to start. (i.e. Malta withdrew its application following the change of government in the general electrions of 26.1 0.1996). In this context, Turkey occupies a unique position. It con- cluded an association agreement with the European Community in 1963 which is much earlier than the other applicant countries. However, especially after 1989, Tur- key has fallen behind in the list of potential members to the Union. While the acces- sion of Cyprus, and the Central and Eastern European Countries is only a matter of time, Turkey's membership does not seem likely to happen. One of the main argu- ments put forth against the Turkish application is Turkey's poor human rights record. In this context, the article tries to explore the significance of human rights considera- tions in the European Union's enlargement process by way of referring to the conclu- sions of the European Council meetings, and attempts at stressing the importance of improving the human rights situation in Turkey in order to develop Turkey-European Union relations.

Renewable Energy Financial Management in the EU's Enlargement Strategy and Environmental Crises

The European Union's enlargement process has entered a new phase. The completion of the accession negotiations with Croatia opened the way to membership in mid-2013. In addition, for Turkey, accession process remains the most effective framework for promoting EU-related reforms, developing dialogue on foreign policy issues, strengthening economic competitiveness and diversifying supply of energy sources. Similarly, improved energy cooperation with the enlargement countries directly benefits European citizens and businesses.Energy interconnection is a key element in the EU's cooperation with all neighboring countries aimed at promoting sustainable economic growth, trade and cultural exchange, employment, as well as at improving living conditions.All enlargement countries have now embarked upon a path of recovery, though at varying paces. For instance, Turkey has emerged from the crisis with a bigger economy and its growth continues to be impressive, but there are increasing signs of overheating. The Western Balkan economies are also beginning to recover, though it will take some time for them to reach pre-crisis levels.Meanwhile, climate developments will affect financial positions through their direct impact on tax bases and spending programs, and more importantly, through the policies needed to mitigate climate change and adapt behaviors and production to the new environment. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between economic growth, energy intensity, and financial management and CO2 emissions in case of the EU.

Securing energy or energising security: the impact of Russia's energy policy on Turkey's accession to the European Union

The emergence of an energy security crisis between Russia and European countries has cast doubt on the argument that commercial ties lead to peaceful political relations between states as the energy trade between Russia and Europe has been inclined to generate conflict rather than cooperation. Nevertheless, the crisis has showed that military security issues no longer dominate the agenda and that issues produce different degrees of cooperation and conflict between governments. Furthermore, governments cannot use military force in order to resolve issues in an era of interdependence. Therefore, the European Union (EU), which suffers from an asymmetric dependence on energy resources imported from or via Russia, has adopted a diversification policy. This policy not only affects energy security but also the EU's enlargement process. Accordingly, a diversification policy requires embracing alternative energy sources, such as Turkey's involvement in oil and gas pipeline projects bypassing Russia. Thus, Turkey's contribution to European energy security creates an interdependence, which could affect Turkey's relations with the EU.

Uses of time in the EU's enlargement process

The instruments of temporality played a key role in driving institutional action and political decision in the process of expansion of the European Union (EU) from 15 to 27 members. The Opinions made by the European Commission in 1997 on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe interpreted for the first time the ‘Copenhagen criteria’ for EU membership, and by using a ‘medium-term’ horizon introduced an important time-factor. The ‘roadmap’ developed by the Commission and approved by the Council of Ministers in 2000 effectively structured the decisive stages of the accession negotiations. In the ‘battle of dates’ with the applicant countries concerning the prospective timing of their accession, the EU refused to commit itself to a precise date until the last stages of the negotiations. Overall, it used time-factors in such a way that the existing members and the applicant countries were mobilized to reach a timely conclusion.

Editorial: Inclusive governance, changing science-policy relations and multi level decision making in the enlarged EU

To respond to a perceived trust crisis related to the management of risks, the concept of inclusive governance has been developed, including a reflection on relevant knowledge and expertise. It strives to consider a wider range of issue aspects and dimensions, as well as to involve a larger set of actors in the decision making or supporting processes. Policy making on risks and emerging technologies, including initiatives towards inclusion, show a mix of institutional and procedural inventiveness and of reproducing familiar ways of coping with hazards, based on a modern model of science-policy relations. In EU decision making, such tensions between tradition and innovation are interwoven with finding a balance between acknowledging Europe's diversity and developing integrated European policies. In this respect, the European Union's enlargement process, which resulted in a Union that is now a diverse entity in many key characteristics, works as a challenge multiplier.

Understanding the Limits of the European Union’s Power

Building States without Society: European Union Enlargement and the Transfer of EU Social Policy to Poland and Hungary. By Beate Sissenich. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007. 252 pp., $80.00 cloth (ISBN: 0-7391-1222-8), $29.95 paper (ISBN: 0-7391-1223-6). Beate Sissenich's Building States without Society takes a refreshing, new look at the European Union's enlargement process. What is particularly novel and interesting about the book is that Sissenich is not intent on proving how powerful international institutions are or how transformative the European Union has been in Central and Eastern Europe. Rather, the study shows how surprisingly weak even the most densely institutionalized organizations can be. Specifically, Sissenich explains why the European Union's transfer of social policy to Poland and Hungary was mostly perfunctory. For although these two “most likely” cases of EU rule adoption changed their legal codes to comply with the acquis communautaire , in both countries behavioral compliance has been far less than the European Union had hoped. Sissenich argues that this kind of incomplete rule transfer is the consequence, in general, of the weak states in Poland and Hungary (and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe) and, more specifically, of their “insufficient interest differentiation” (p. 16). In other words, the domestic interest groups that might have had the power to implement EU social policy on the …

TURKEY'S ACCESSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: DOES CULTURE AND IDENTİTY PLAY A ROLE?

It is a highly acknowledged fact that in the European Union 's enlargement process, Turkey plays a highly interesting role and deserves analytical attention in terms of its theoretical and policy making implications. This fact has become more pronounced since the start of accession talks with Turkey on 3 October 2005. However, the opening of the Turkish accession talks marked the beginning of a new era in terms of defining what constitutes Europe and the European identity. It is for this reason that Turkey's accession to the EU should be evaluated within the langer framework of EU enlargement and the European integrati on process and goes beyond an analysis of bilateral relations. Thus, Turkey's ability to adopt the EU standards is only one aspect of the whole picture with the EU specific factors playing an equally important role. This paper argues that the enlargement process of the EU determines the boundaries of what is Europe and what is not and that Turkey's accession to the EU becomes the most important and visible line of demarcation in that aspect. This means that a candidate 's accession negotiations to the EU are determined by perceptions of that candidate's fit into a predetermined European identity. That is why the Turkish case is important because it illustrates the ambivalent nature of Europeanness and attempts by member states to clearly define it. The purpose of this article is to analyze to process of enlargement from the sociological/constructivist approaches with regard to enlargement in general and towards Turkey in particular.

Placing Democratization within the Global Frame: Sociological Approaches to Universalism, and Democratic Contestation in Contemporary Turkey

The process of democratization in Turkey is enhanced by both proximity to the European Union's enlargement process and universalistic discourses of personhood rights, and, at the same time, compromised by a nationalistic rejection of global human rights and democratic norms and state-led resistance to political pluralism. One key feature of the democratization process is the way in which contending parties – the Kemalist elite, religious and ethnic minorities, the European Union – attempt to legitimise their claims by appeals to universal principles. The paper examines three sociological/social theory approaches to universalism (Beck, Laclau, Robertson) and demonstrates their usefulness for an understanding of political contestation in contemporary Turkey. It is argued that the work of these theorists allows us to move beyond a simplistic polarisation of the universal and the particular, where the state represents the universal and minorities the particular. The conceptualisation of universalism advanced by Beck, Laclau and Robertson points to the need to understand the processes of democratization within a sociologically informed globalization framework.

Imagining geographies of the ‘new Europe’: geo-economic power and the new European architecture of integration

Since 1989, East-Central Europe has witnessed a series of transformations that have resulted in the region’s geopolitical and geoeconomic repositioning within Europe. This paper explores three examples of such repositionings. First, the paper examines the scripting of post-communist transitions as a naturalized process of neo-liberal marketization. The role of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the place of East-Central European economies within discourses of emerging markets and the naturalization of uneven economic development in treatments such as those by Jeffrey Sachs are explored. Second, the paper examines the role of the European Union enlargement process in the closure of economic practice in East-Central Europe around liberal market economies. Third, the paper explores how the process of post-conflict reconstruction in the Balkans has been part of the assertion of marketization discourses as the one best way for ensuring peace. The paper therefore examines these geo-economic discourses as central to our understanding of European reconfigurations at the start of the twenty-first century.

Turkey in the EU's Enlargement Process: Obstacles and Challenges

The European Union (EU) has embarked on an ambitious programme of enlargement. In this process, Turkey, as one of the candidates, has a particularly difficult position. This article argues that Turkey's relationship with the Union should not be treated as bilateral, but rather should be placed in the larger framework of EU enlargement. In this context, the main proposition is that Turkey's EU candidacy and its negotiations for accession are affected by four factors: the Copenhagen criteria, the EU's institutional set-up, member state preferences (and related to that, Turkey's population) and public opinion within the EU. The article analyses the interplay between these factors and discusses Turkey's future with the European Union in a multilateral perspective.