Candidate Countries Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The term candidate countries denotes the countries that are advanced in the accession process with the European Union (EU), and have signed a Stabilization and Partnership Agreement with the European Commission. The countries outside the EU can be either in the group of potential future members or countries that will be regarded as good neighbors. As of 2008 the EU candidate countries are Croatia, (former Yugoslav Republic of ) Macedonia, and Turkey. Potential candidate countries, per official documents of the EU, are the countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo (the territory under United Nations [UN] administration following UN Security Council Resolution No. 1244 of 1999).

The accession process and candidature begins with the submission of a request for membership from a potential applicant country to the Council of the European Union. The European Commission (acting de facto as the EU’s government) assesses the capacity of the applicant as to whether a country meets the accession criteria. The accession criteria were defined at the meeting of the Council in Copenhagen in 1993 and were modified later at the meeting in Madrid in 1995. If the Commission is of positive opinion and the recommendation of the Commission is unanimously upheld by the Council, the formal negotiation process can begin. In fact the candidate country has a relationship not only with the Commission as the representative of the EU, but also with all the member states.

The negotiation focuses on the endorsement of the entire EU legal framework, known as Acquis Communautaire. The negotiations are usually fairly slow and meticulous, with discussions about when and how the candidate country will align its legal system with the EU legal framework, and meet in full the EU expectations. The Copenhagen criteria can be summarized as follows: (1) political: stable institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and respect for/protection of minorities; (2) economic: a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competition and market forces in the EU, and (3) the capacity to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the objectives of political, economic, and monetary union. The Copenhagen criteria were reinforced by the European Council in Madrid in 1995, with a further one added: (4) adoption of the Acquis Communautaire and its effective implementation through appropriate administrative and judicial structures. However, it should also be noted that the EU must be able to absorb new members, so it reserves the right to decide when it will be ready to accept them. This is the reason why the candidate country may make excellent progress toward meeting all four criteria for full membership and still not be invited to join.

The pre-accession strategy is designed to prepare the candidate countries for future membership. It encompasses the following frameworks and mechanisms: (1) Europe agreements—stabilization and association agreements; (2) accession partnerships—European partnerships; (3) pre-accession assistance; (4) co-financing from international, i.e., European, financial institutions; (5) participation in the EU programs, agencies, and committees; (6) national program for the adoption of the Acquis Communautaire; (7) regular progress reports; and (8) political and economic dialogue.

The first step in the negotiation process for candidate countries is known as screening, where the EU assesses the candidate country’s potential to meet the set criteria, and to identify areas where further assistance from the EU is required in order to bring the capacity of the candidate country in line with the expectations of membership. The Commission prepares the report for each chapter, and each country

and the candidate country are expected to submit their position, in order for further rapprochement with the EU, that is the Commission on behalf of the EU. The output of the Commission work is the Draft Common Position (DCP), which is the document outlining the position of the EU and its member states toward the candidate country. The moment the Council adopts the DCP, the formal negotiations may start.

Candidate countries are assessed every year by the Commission, which prepares an annual progress report that is published in all the official languages of the EU. Also, each year the Commission adopts its annual strategy document explaining its policy on EU enlargement. The progress report is produced for all the member countries, and reflects both on their performance and the outlined policy of the EU. The so-called enlargement package also contains proposals to the Council for revised European and Accession partnerships for each country; the Commission also lists areas where further reforms are needed.

Financial Assistance

Candidate countries and to some extent “countries which may become candidate countries,” that is, the countries of the Western Balkans, are eligible for financial assistance from the EU in the process of accession or preparation for the accession process. From 2007, these countries (candidate and “pre-candidate” countries) may be recipients of the Instruments for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), a program that has replaced the multitude of various programs aimed at these countries.

In order to achieve each country’s objectives in the most efficient way, IPA consists of the following five components: (1) transition assistance and institution building; (2) cross-border cooperation (with the EU member states and other countries eligible for IPA); (3) regional development (transport, environment, and economic development); (4) human resources development (strengthening human capital and combating exclusion), and (5) rural development. The first component is more directed toward the potential candidate countries in the Western Balkans where there is a need to build the capacity to develop a fully functional civil society and functioning market economy. It is fully under the administration of the EU Directorate-General for Enlargement. The second component targets not only the candidate countries and those that are most likely expected to achieve candidateship status in the foreseeable future, but to the countries that are neighbors of the EU and would fall in the category of the countries that may be eligible for support under the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).

The other three components (regional development, human resources development, and rural development) are, generally, exclusively targeting candidate countries, as their aim is to bring the candidate country into line with the EU countries and enable it to reach the status of a functional full member of the EU. These components are managed by the respective Directorate-Generals of the Commission and are integrative measures. Regional development is led by the Directorate-General for Regional Policy, human resources development by the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and the rural development is led by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

Before the IPA program was launched, the EU had an array of financial assistance programs targeting different groups of the countries. The best known program is Phare, initially developed in 1989 to support the transition and rapprochement with the EU of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), but later spreading to some of the countries in the Western Balkans.

From Phare other programs have been developed and evolved out of it, most notably the CARDS program (Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stability in the Balkans), which focused from 2000 on supporting potential candidate countries in the Balkans, primarily the Western Balkans. From the very outset in 1989, the Phare program was to deal with supporting the process of bringing these (target) countries to the EU. However, the remit was somewhat changed at the Copenhagen criteria, where the Phare program was charged with the following objectives: (1) strengthen public administration and institutions to function effectively inside the European Union; (2) promote convergence with the European Union’s extensive legislation (the Acquis Communautaire) and reduce the need for transition periods; and (3) promote economic and social cohesion.

Other Programs

Other programs that new member states of the EU enjoyed when they were candidate countries include (1) Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-accession (ISPA); (2) Special Accession Program for Agriculture and Rural Development (SAPARD); and (3) Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilization (CARDS). The SAPARD component was in operation between 2000 and 2006 and generally marked as a successful one. Similarly, CARDS program was launched in 1999, made operational in 2000 and has to a large extent been replaced by IPA, although the EU agency established to implement the assistance to the Western Balkans is still operational, although its mandate is until the end of 2008; unless another (most unlikely) extension is granted. Interestingly, Turkey as a candidate country has always had a separate program of support, although it has been genuinely developed following the format and experience of other programs targeting other candidate countries. Also, new member states, and the former candidates, have received significant support in the first two years of EU membership, through socalled transition facility, while Bulgaria and Romania enjoyed the extra support during the first year of their EU membership.

To support the candidate countries and potential candidate countries (and recently, countries targeted through good neighbor policies) the EU has launched other related programs, like (1) the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX); (2) twinning, and (3) SIGMA. The twinning program assumes the appointment of short-term resident twinning advisers who share good practices and facilitate the adoption of EU-endorsed policies and practices. SIGMA is an instrument jointly developed by the EU and OECD that has been focusing on public administration reform and capacity building in the target countries.

Accession Procedure

When all criteria are met in full, the Accession Treaty lays down clearly terms and conditions of the entry (accession), and stipulates any issues of importance for the transitional phase, as the future member may exercise some options, for a number of years, before applying the EU legislation to the letter. The accession procedure requires the positive recommendation of the Commission, which the European

Parliament (EP) has to endorse, and all the member states have to ratify the treaty, as well as the democratic bodies in the candidate country (as a rule the parliament or the equivalent). The treaty normally stipulates when the membership of the EU begins and as of that date the candidate country becomes a full member of the EU.

To a large extent the EU has closely followed the criteria stipulated in Copenhagen and developed further at the later summits discussing enlargement, but it is also noted that the enlargement of the EU has been politically motivated, and exercised in groups. The overall economic and political performance of the new member states of the EU demonstrates that there are wide differences in their achievements in either or both economic and political spheres. It is also possible to conclude that the enlargement process that is to include the countries of the Western Balkans is possibly the last logical step in the enlargement of the EU in the foreseeable future, as it may be concluded that the dominant thinking is shifting from “enlargement of Europe” to “completing the process.” However, the open question is what will happen with the Turkish application, as now the EU could state that what is important is whether the Union can absorb the new member state or not—not whether the member state meets the criteria.

Historically the EU had waves in which the membership has been expanded and it is most likely that this policy will be extended when it comes to the countries of the Western Balkans, while Croatia may be in a position to join the EU on its own. Although the economic criteria for membership is quite often emphasized (or even overstated), the political factor is the prevalent one and drives the decision-making process notwithstanding some level of sentiment and political alignment between the current member countries and those applying for membership.

Bibliography:

Brimmer and S. Fruehlich, The Strategic Implications of European Union Enlargement (Johns Hopkins University, 2005);
Nugent, European Union Enlargement (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004);
Sajdik and M.Schwarzinger, European Union Enlargement: Background, Developments, Facts, Central and Eastern European Policy Studies, vol. 2 (Transaction Publishers, 2007);
Trogan and V. N. Balasubramanyam, eds., Turkey and Central and Eastern European Countries in Transition: Towards Membership of the EU (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001).

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