Original scientific paper
Enlargement and Power of Membership in the European Union
Zlatko Šabič
; University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences
Abstract
The article discusses the development of political conditonality in the process of the EU enlargement. It uses the concept of the Power of Membership (POM), which is defined as an advantage a member state has, by the virtue of its veto power, over a country that has applied for the membership in the EU, with a view to winning concessions from such an applicant. In the past (with the exception of France in the 1960s), the POM has been carefully applied by the EU members which wanted to win certain concessions from candidate states. However, recently the POM has assumed a new dimension, because some of the EU members have introduced referendum as a ‘final check’ for candidate states (except Croatia). This move seems to have a specific goal: to prevent Turkey, which has started accession talks, to become a full EU member. The article argues that this may have negative consequences for the success of the EU enlargement process and can undermine efforts to create stability in Europe as a whole.
Keywords
EU enlargement; Power of Membership
Hrčak ID:
28550
URI
Publication date:
1.8.2008.
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