This book is the most detailed and up-to-date account of the state of the European Union on the eve of its biggest enlargement so far, and also considers its future prospects in several key areas.

The effects of the Eastern enlargement, the biggest so far, are still felt across the European Union (EU). Many warned the EU was about to overreach the limits of its integration capacity. More than a decade later, this book presents a broad-based and systematic evaluation of the 2004–2007’s enlargement and its impact on the EU. In contrast to widespread scepticism, our results show that the EU’s integration capacity has been strong. Credible accession conditionality and pre-accession assistance have had a positive impact on democracy, governance capacity, and economic transformation, at least before accession. After accession, EU institutions have proven resilient. Eastern enlargement has not affected negatively the legislative capacity of the EU. It has not led to a deterioration of compliance and implementation of EU law either; initial differentiated integration has quickly returned to normal levels. This generally positive assessment stands in stark contrast with increasing public opposition to future EU enlargements. We identify some less known sources of such opposition: the lack of communication and political debate about enlargement between EU leaders and their citizens. Public opposition undermines the credibility of EU conditionality, which is crucial for having a positive impact on neighbouring countries in the future. The chapters in this book originally appeared in a special issue in the Journal of European Public Policy.

Recoge : Part I: Candidate countries and the community social acquis: an imposible match? - Part II: Social dumping: myth or reality?

Leading international economists assess the effects of the 2004 expansion of the European Union. In May 2004 the European Union will undergo the largest expansion in its history when ten countries -- Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia -- become members. The number of new members and their diversity make this "big bang" enlargement particularly challenging. Not only do these countries vary widely in language, culture, and geography, but also their per capita income is less than half that of existing members. EU officials believe that expanded integration will serve the EU's objectives of peace, stability, prosperity, and democracy; but the less abstract questions of costs and benefits of enlargement are more complex. Each of the chapters in this CESifo volume addresses a different aspect of EU expansion. The contributors, all leading international practitioners and scholars, consider such topics as the effect of euro zone expansion on European Central Bank monetary policy making; using the euro as an external anchor for a national currency; worker migration and income differentials; the Swiss experience with immigration policy in a direct democracy framework; detailed sector analysis using a computable general equilibrium model of the world economy; investment and job creation and destruction in incumbent member countries; and the asymmetric effects of enlargement on high- and low-income incumbent countries. Taken together, the chapters provide useful guidance in shaping the EU policies of the future.

Among the criteria for accession to the European Union are democracy and the Rule of Law. In the insightful analysis offered by the author of this book, these concepts - while admirable and even necessary criteria in principle - are almost impossible to measure, and any judgement grounded in them will always be difficult to justify. In his words, 'by including analysis of democracy and the Rule of Law within the field of the EU enlargement law, the Union entered an unstable terrain of vague causal connections and blurred definitions.' Dr Kochenov addresses this problem by proceeding as follows: 1. Outlining EU enlargement law in general, including the principle of conditionality and the role played by the analysis of democracy and the Rule of Law in enlargement preparation; 2. Focusing on the role actually played by the monitoring of democracy and the Rule of Law in ten candidate countries, scrutinizing the way the EU used the legal tools and competences outlined in its enlargement law. The book adopts the EU's own understanding of democracy and the Rule of Law, as derived directly from the substance of the numerous legal and political instruments issued by the Community Institutions and especially the Commission in the course of the pre-accession process. In this way it demonstrates the actual - as opposed to the officially announced - role played by the assessment of democracy and the Rule of Law in the candidate countries in the regulation of enlargement. Many formidable inconsistencies in the application of the conditionality principle are thus laid bare. This leads the author to a series of recommendations on policy and procedure that he demonstrates could be profitably applied to the regulation of current and future accessions, using the Commission's own structure of monitoring pre-accession reforms in the three areas of the legislature, executive, and judiciary in candidate countries. The probity and soundness of these recommendations, firmly grounded as they are in the actual pre-accession monitoring and its consequences for the pre-accession progress of ten Eastern European countries admitted to the EU in 2004 and 2007, will greatly interest policymakers and scholars concerned with the future of European integration.

This book fills a significant gap in recent literature on European Union politics by examining the EU’s ‘other’ eastern enlargement, completed in 2007 with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania. It focuses on both the process and the effects of the 2007 enlargement within the wider context of the post-communist countries’ accession to the EU, and, more broadly, within the context of the history of EU enlargement. The book brings together in-depth analyses of a wide range of issues, both from a comparative perspective and through single case studies. Individual contributions shed new light onto EU enlargement through a theoretical re-evaluation of the ‘strategic action’ paradigm, as well as through historical analyses of the 2007 enlargement and of its implications for future EU enlargements. Further insight into the process of EU enlargement is gained through systematic exploration of the impact of accession on policy-making and institutional structures in Bulgaria and Romania. Altogether, the contributions exemplify the multi-faceted nature of EU enlargement and accession, as well as the extent to which the process of acceding to the EU is not completed with membership, either for the EU or for the candidate countries. This book was published as a special issue of Perspectives on European Politics and Society.

This book offers a well-investigated and accessible picture of the current situation around the politics of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) rights and activism in Central Europe and the Western Balkans in the context of the enlargement of the European Union (EU). It provides not only thoughtful reflections on the topic but also a wealth of new empirical findings — arising from legal and policy analysis, large-scale sociological investigations and country case studies. Theoretical concepts come from institutional analysis, the study of social movements, law, and Europeanization literature. The authors discuss emerging Europe-wide activism for LGBT rights and analyze issues such as the tendency of nationalist movements to turn ‘sexual others’ into ‘national others,’ the actions and rhetoric of church actors as powerful counter-mobilizers against LGBT rights, and the role of the domestic state on the receiving end of EU pressure in the field of fundamental rights.