EU Conditionality in the Context of the Eastern and South-Eastern Enlargement

(Eli Gateva, University of Manchester)

The accession of Bulgaria and Romania in January 2007 marked the end of the fifth enlargement. However, enlargement remains a vital part of the EU’s external policies. The Union has extended the membership perspective to South-Eastern Europe. My research will examine the EU enlargement policy in the context of the Eastern and South-Eastern enlargement by focusing on the application of EU conditionality towards three groups of candidate countries: 1) the candidate countries which joined the EU in 2004; 2) Bulgaria and Romania which became members of the Union in 2007; and 3) the current candidate countries: Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Turkey. As the focus of my research is on concept of conditionality and its application, I will examine the characteristics of the conditions set for the candidate countries throughout the accession process. I will relate the examination of conditionality to the main stages of the accession. As the start of the accession negotiations is a turning point for the advancement of the enlargement, I explore the scope and the characteristics of the conditions which the EU has set before and after the accession negotiations have been opened.