AVRUPA ENTEGRASYONU

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. Therefore, the correct option is B.

Functionalism, an international integration theory, argues that intersocietal and interstate economic, political, cultural and military relationships are in perpetual motion. Therefore, the correct option is B.

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. Therefore, the correct option is E.

The Merger Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Brussels, was signed in 1965 to bring the executive bodies of the ECSC, EEC and EURATOM together in order to form a single council and a single commission, but this treaty did not enter into force until July 1, 1967. Therefore, the correct option is D.

The Treaty of Nice was signed on February 26, 2001 and entered into force on February 1, 2003. This Treaty aimed to prepare the Central and Eastern European countries for the accession process and the Union’s decision-making mechanisms. In this context, how to shape the necessary institutional structure of the EU, the number of seats in the EU Parliament, the structure of the Commission, and the vote distribution in the Council were regulated. The Nice Summit provided the necessary legal basis for EU enlargement and expanded the scope of the qualified majority voting system. Therefore, the correct option is A.

In the negotiation process of the Western Balkan countries, which are currently seeking EU membership, the European Commission has developed a new approach to Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and Chapter 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security). Therefore, the correct option is C.

The EU accession process will be discussed in detail later in this chapter. Each phase of this process has three stages, all of which are subject to the approval of the existing member states. These stages are:
• Granting the country applying for EU membership the official status of “candidate country” after presentation of the membership perspective;
• Initiation of accession negotiations;
• Accession of the country to the Union by approval of all member states, following the completion of accession negotiations and necessary reforms. 

Therefore, the correct option is B.

The reasons behind enlargement can be evaluated in terms of both the EU and the candidate countries. From the EU perspective, enlargement is, above all, a political decision, and is a policy implemented because it is considered to serve the EU’s interests. The benefit of enlargement to the Union is that it gives it an opportunity to become a more effective and weighted economic and political actor globally. The EU uses enlargement as an effective means of expanding its influence and potency as a civilian or soft power in bringing forward economic, diplomatic and cultural elements as well as its gravitational pull, rather than relying on the use of force, in foreign policy. With the EU’s control of the enlargement process on the basis of conditionality, it is able to determine its direction, which makes enlargement a much more attractive policy instrument. From the economic perspective, the enlargement process leads to a rise in the Union’s total GDP, growth of the trade volume with the opening of new markets, creation of cheap labor opportunities, reduction of regional differences and greater overall economic dynamism from the addition of new member states. From the political perspective, the enlargement process enables the EU to spread and secure political stability and democratic rule that respects human rights across the continent, and to increase its diplomatic influence and leverage in the international arena.Therefore, the correct option is B.

Apart from Europeanness, the other criteria a candidate country should meet are set out in the Copenhagen Summit (1993) in light of the experience gained from the first three enlargements and within the scope of the fifth enlargement wave involving the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs):
Political Criteria: Presence of a stable institutional structure guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.
Economic Criteria: Presence of a functioning market economy and a capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union.
Compliance with the Acquis Communautaire: Possession of the capacity to adopt and implement EU legislation, including alignment with the objectives of political, economic and monetary union.

Therefore, the correct option is D.

Accession Partnership Document (APD): In this document, which is prepared by the Commission, the short- and medium-term requirements of the candidate country during the pre-accession preparation stage are determined and the EU financial assistance issue is regulated and collected under a single framework. In terms of the procedure, the Council unanimously decides to establish accession partnerships with the candidate country. Although the document is prepared by the Commission in consultation with the candidate country, this unilateral text is not negotiated. Therefore, the correct option is A.