AVRUPA ENTEGRASYONU

The European Union integration process has two dimensions, namely, deepening and enlargement. The concept of deepening refers to the increased level of the Union’s competence and activity and to the reforms and changes in the institutional structure since the establishment of the Union. The deepening process generally involves changes to the founding treaties. In this context, the EU has experienced five main deepening processes since its establishment. These are; the Single European Act (1986), the Treaty of Maastricht (1992), the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997), the Treaty of Nice (2001) and the Treaty of Lisbon (2007). The enlargement of the European Union refers to the accession of new member states to the Union.

INTRODUCTION

The European Union integration process has two dimensions, namely, deepening and enlargement. The concept of deepening refers to the increased level of the Union’s competence and activity and to the reforms and changes in the institutional structure since the establishment of the Union. The deepening process generally involves changes to the founding treaties. The enlargement of the European Union refers to the accession of new member states to the Union.

INTRODUCTION

By incorporating new member states, the EU endeavors to become a much stronger Union in economic, political and geopolitical terms, and to increase its effective role in the international system. In this context, the EU’s enlargement policy develops and changes in line with European integration.

INTRODUCTION

To date, the EU has experienced seven waves of enlargement. Originally established by six countries (France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg), the Union experienced the first enlargement in 1973, when the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark incorporated.

INTRODUCTION

At present, there are four official candidate countries for EU membership, other than Turkey: North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania. The EU continues to hold accession talks and negotiations with Turkey, Montenegro and Serbia. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are currently potential candidate countries. Iceland, which started accession negotiations with the EU on June 17, 2010, opened 27 of the 35 negotiation chapters and temporarily closed 11 chapters, withdrew its application for EU candidacy on March 12, 2015. The case of Iceland is the first in the history of enlargement in terms of a country withdrawing the application for EU membership after coming such a long way in the negotiation process.

European Integration and EU Enlargement

Functionalism, an international integration theory, argues that intersocietal and interstate economic, political, cultural and military relationships are in perpetual motion. This theory was developed by David Mitrany in the 1930s and offered an approach wherein the basic logic of integration is to build a network of national actors who are involved in the integration process in order to collectively meet needs and interests. In this sense, Mitrany links the existence of a real peace environment to the existence of an international system where states are more integrated through common interests and needs, and therefore more influenced by each other, which in turn increases their dependence on each other. For building the peace, functionalism emphasizes the existence of functional international organizations that are free from national interests and encourage more intense cooperation among actors.

Regarding the aftermath of the Second World War, it would be appropriate here to mention the approach referred to as “Security Community”, coined by the prominent political scientist Karl Deutsch in 1957. The Security Community approach argues that common interstate identities and values should be developed to establish international organizations and mechanisms and to prevent wars. In this respect, the goal is that states in the security community share common value judgments and thus consider themselves as part of this community. In addition, the states should exhibit attitudes and behaviors consistent with these values in the face of adverse events. The enlargement procedures and criteria, which will be discussed in detail in later parts of the study, should be evaluated within this scope.

Another approach that needs to be mention here is Neo-Functionalism. Neo-Functionalism was introduced by Ernst B. Haas in his book “The Uniting of Europe: Political, Social, and Economic Forces 1950-1957” published for the first time in 1958. One of the basic concepts emphasized by neo-functionalism is spill-over, which means that cooperation or integration in a particular policy area can spread to other related policy areas because of the contact with each other. This theory argues that an integration process in one sector of the economy will spread to other sectors of the economy, eventually cover the whole economy. This would bring about prosperity and peace in both economic and political spheres. As nation-states derived greater benefits from the new situation, they would endeavor to become a part of it by giving more support to international integration and this process.

European Integration and EU Enlargement

The Security Community approach argues that common interstate identities and values should be developed to establish international organizations and mechanisms and to prevent wars.

European Integration and EU Enlargement

The approach of neoinstitutionalism is also important in terms of the integration-enlargement relationship. The basic assumption of neo-institutionalism is that institutions play an important role in determining behaviors and decisions of political actors (March & Olsen, 1984: 78). Concerning this, neo-institutionalism points out that in addition to institutions’ official structures, their values and ideas are also important in the decisionmaking processes and the functioning of the EU. According to this approach, the values and ideas of EU institutions are the determinants of the integration process. For example, supranational institutions, such as the European Commission, the European Parliament (EP) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), are highly influential in establishing policies at the EU level.

WHAT DOES THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION MEAN? Each phase of the EU accession process has three stages, all of which are subject to the approval of the existing member states. These stages are:

The Main Benefits of the EU Membership

As for the participant countries, the main economic benefits of EU membership are economic access to the Union’s domestic market, free movement opportunities, inclusion in the economic and monetary union, increased competitiveness in the external world, and opportunities to utilize the Union’s financial assistance and funds.

David Mitrany developed the theory of functionalism. The answer is A.

One of the basic concepts emphasized by neo-functionalism is spill-over, which means that cooperation or integration in a particular policy area can spread to other related policy areas because of the contact with each other. The answer is B.

Social Constructivism holds that integration is possible through interstate social
contacts, interaction and communication. The answer is C.

The Treaty of Rome, which was signed on March 25, 1957 and entered into force on January 1, 1958, established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

The Copenhagen Criteria set the legal framework for EU enlargement.

As for the participant countries, the main economic benefits of EU membership are economic access to the Union’s domestic market, free movement opportunities, inclusion in the economic and monetary union, increased competitiveness in the external world, and opportunities to utilize the Union’s financial assistance and funds. The answer is A.

The Maastricht Treaty in 1992 (Treaty on European Union) was responsible for transforming the European Community into the European Union. The answer is C.

EFTA was established by the UK and other countries as an alternative to the European Community. The answer is A.

Current candidates of the EU are: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey. The answer is E.

Crotia joined the EU in 2013. The answer is E.