Conceptualization of the European Union Policies
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CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION POLICIES TOWARDS EUROPE? THE EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY, EU CONDITIONALITY AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION HISTORY OF CHANGE DYNAMICS IN THE BALKANS∗ Cătălina Maria GEORGESCU∗∗ Abstract: EU conditionality is one of the guiding principles of accession, post- conflict reconstruction efforts in the Balkans being pushed forward by European supranational stimuli. The “return to Europe” theme was a commonplace for political discourses within the South Eastern polities, however, it chose to develop differently throughout the area, occasioned or supported by different contexts, political forces, historical events, ethnical cleavages and social structures. This article tackles the European Neighbourhood Policy offering a discussion under the prospects of the European conditionality and EU-led administrative and state reform for the Western Balkans. It dwelves on policy-specific themes with country evolutions to analyse the historical enlargement dynamics of the Balkans throughout a diachronical perspective. Keywords: Europeanization, EU conditionality, Western Balkans, agreement, integration. INTRODUCTION: THE BALKANS AND PROCESSES OF EUROPEANIZATION The Europeanization of the Balkans is a seminal theme of discussions, researches and studies, producing a series of interesting theories on the change dynamics of a heterogenous territory. It was even emphasised that their history and geography could explain the peculiarities of transition1. The rich history, cultural diversity, ethnic cleavages and religious composition reflected in the peace- building process and post-conflict reconstruction efforts2. ∗ This work was supported by the strategic grant POSDRU/159/1.5/S/133255, Project ID 133255 (2014), co-financed by the European Social Fund within the Sectorial Operational Program Human Resources Development 2007-2013. ∗∗ Lecturer PhD, University of Craiova, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Political Sciences Specialization, Craiova; Email: [email protected] 1 Milenko Petrovic, The role of geography and history in determining the slower progress of post-communist transition in the Balkans, in “Communist and Post-Communist Studies”, No. 41, 2008, pp. 123-145; available at www.elsevier.com/locate/postcomstud, accessed at: 11 June 2014. 2 Karin Dyrstad, After ethnic civil war: Ethno-nationalism in the Western Balkans, in “Journal of Peace Research”, No. 49, 2012, p. 817; DOI:10.1177/0022343312439202, available at http://jpr.sagepub.com/content/49/6/817, accessed at: 03 June 2014. Anuarul Inst. de Cercet. Socio-Umane „C.S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor”, vol. XVI, 2015, pp. 117–124 118 Cătălina Maria Georgescu Substantiated democracy establishment commenced after the end of civil wars, violence and ethnic cleansing and mostly following an external impulse3. Europeanization is thus assumed in an asymmetrical fashion by different societies, according to their willingness to embark upon the reform process. Despite the convergence of discursive practices towards the “return to Europe” theme, national governments and other political forces have mustered different pathways and different lenses through which they perceived and sought or accepted change. Democratization in the Balkans thus becomes a cause and explanation of change4. The European Commission is one of the main actors of the Europeanization drive, exercising high pressure on national governments to fit the framework deemed necessary in Brussels. Europeanization was conceptualized in different styles according to different lines of thought5. Change under European pressure was analysed under soft terms: identities, values and/or norms6, and also as hard Europeanization processes in a top-down perspective as is the case of institutional adjustments conceptualized under the “goodness-of-fit” formula7 or “upgrading” national legislation to achieve compliance with the European law8. EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY AND THE EUROPEAN CONDITIONALITY The present paper deals with the interpretation and the de-construction of the European Neighbourhood Policy through the lenses of the European conditionality and EU-led administrative and state reform for the Balkan countries9. The region 3 Othon Anastasakis, The Europeanization of the Balkans, in “Brown Journal of World Affairs”, volume XII, Issue 1, Summer/Fall 2005, pp. 77-88. 4 Jean Grugel, Democratizarea. O introducere critică, Iaşi, Polirom Publishing, 2008, p. 72. 5 See for instance the definitions and implications on enlargement and integration research in the studies of Aneta Borislavova Spendzharova, Bringing Europe in? The Impact of EU Conditionality on Bulgarian and Romanian Politics, in “Southeast European Politics”, Vol. IV, No. 2-3, 2003, pp. 141-156; A. M. Dobre, The Dynamics of Europeanization and Regionalization: Regional Reform in Romania, in “Perspectives on European Politics and Society”, No. 10 (2), 2009, pp. 181-194, DOI: 10.1080/15705850902899222; H. Grabbe, How does Europeanization affect CEE governance? Conditionality, diffusion and diversity, in “Journal of European Public Policy”, No. 8 (6), 2001, pp. 1013-1031, DOI: 10.1080/13501760110098323, accessed at: 09 February 2015. 6 Stephan Renner, Florian Trauner, Creeping EU Membership in South- East Europe: The Dynamics of EU Rule Transfer to the Western Balkans, in “Journal of European Integration”, No. 31 (4), 2009, pp. 449-465, DOI: 10.1080/07036330902919988, accessed at: 10 June 2014; See also Esther Barbé, Oriol Costa, Anna Herranz Surrallés, Michal Natorski, Which rules shape EU external governance? Patterns of rule selection in foreign and security policies, in “Journal of European Public Policy”, No. 16 (6), 2009, pp. 834-852, DOI: 10.1080/13501760903087845, accessed at: 11 June 2014. 7 Ian Bailey, National adaptation to European integration: institutional vetoes and goodness- of-fit, in “Journal of European Public Policy”, No. 9 (5), 2002, pp. 791-811, DOI: 10.1080/13501760210162366, accessed at: 04 June 2014. 8 Stephan Renner, Florian Trauner, Creeping EU Membership in South-East Europe: The Dynamics of EU Rule Transfer to the Western Balkans, in “Journal of European Integration”, No. 31 (4), 2009, pp. 449-465, DOI: 10.1080/07036330902919988, accessed at: 10 June 2014. 9 Rikard Bengtsson, Constructing Interfaces: the Neighbourhood Discourse in EU External Policy, in “Journal of European Integration”, No. 30 (5), 2008, pp. 597-616, DOI: 10.1080/07036330802439582, accessed at: 10 June 2014. Towards Europe? The European Neighbourhood Policy … 119 has faced a troubled transition marked by civil war and a sinuous reconstruction process. The EU and international forces monitored closely the peace establishment and post-war recovery processes, some of the institutions for stability enforcement being actively involved in some governments internal politics even today. Justice and home affairs is one of the areas in which the EU exercises its conditionality in the Balkans10, the Western Balkan states having signed Stabilisation and Association Agreements which provide engendering the rule of law, fighiting illegal migration and drugs smuggling before being confirmed as candidate countries11. As an all-encompasing enlargment instrument and stabilization push-factor, a Stabilization and Association Agreement is an innovative tool compared to the former waves of enlargement configured expressly to fit the needs of the Western Balkans. International security threats12 resumed by Balkans post-communist insability thus created the legitimacy for the pursuit of foreign intervention in different terms such as EU financial assistance13, trade agreements or different cooperation mechanisms14. Meeting EU standards through the Europeanization mechanism and EU conditionality framework offers a fruitful analysis by which to link and understand the stages of the Balkans democratization and advancement on EU membership course. The European Commission was and continues to represent a conditionality push factor in determining compliance for candidate countries and potentially candidate countries15: for the South Eastern states, the Western Balkans – Albania, Croatia, FYROM, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo (name statute under UN-Resolution 1244 not affecting the official national positions) and Turkey. During 2003-2004 the EU succeeded UN16 police forces and NATO stabilization forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia17. 10 Roberto Belloni, European integration and the Western Balkans: lessons, prospects and obstacles, in “Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies”, No. 11 (3), 2009, pp. 313-331, DOI: 10.1080/19448950903152177, accessed at: 03 June 2014. 11 Florian Trauner, Deconstructing the EU’s Routes of Influence in Justice and Home Affairs in the Western Balkans, in “Journal of European Integration”, No. 31 (1), 2009, pp. 65-82, DOI: 10.1080/07036330802503908, accessed at: 10 June 2014 12 Ali Bilgic, Exploring ‘What’s Good about Security’: Politics of Security during the Dissolution of Yugoslavia, in “Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies”, No. 16 (2), 2014, pp. 260-278, DOI: 10.1080/19448953.2014.910390, accessed at: 19 June 2014 13 David Bailey, Lisa De Propris, EU Structural Funds, Regional Capabilities and Enlargement: Towards Multi-Level Governance?, in “Journal of European Integration”, No. 24 (4), 2002, pp. 303-324, DOI: 10.1080/0703633022000038959, accessed at: 10 June 2014. 14 Arolda Elbasani, EU enlargement in the Western Balkans: strategies of borrowing and inventing, in