The Role of European Union and Democratic Change in Central and Eastern Europe Since 1989
The European Union has been a key actor in promoting democratization and providing assistance to encourage political change in that direction. The EU has been one of the most active external actors in the promotion of democracy towards third-States after the demise of communism in Central-Eastern Europe, all transitional countries applied for EU membership and the EU’s conditionalities set in. The EU’s democratisation agenda is believed to have had positively influenced the democratisation process that countries of Central and Eastern Europe embarked on since the 1990s. This chapter details the EU’s democratisation agenda, how this agenda was pursued and applied to third countries. In the first section, a general understanding of what democracy stands for is discussed. The EU adopted enlargement policies to include many states in the emerging markets of CEE. It expanded in the spring of 2004 to include 10 more countries, eight of which are CEECs: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania. The EU underwent another expansion in 2007 to include Romania and Bulgaria. Two main arguments exist concerning democratization and EU membership. The first argument proposes that integration produces a democratic deficit at the national level. the argues that since countries had insufficient time to pass important EU legislation at the state level, many pieces of EU legislation were enacted by the announcement, rather than parliamentary procedure, leaving little room for manoeuvre and creating a decrease in the level of democracy since the onset of EU candidacy. And the second argument suggests that accession into the EU provides political stability to its members, allowing transitional democracies to strengthen their domestic democratic institutions. Democratic institutions became stronger in the CEECs during their accession into the EU mainly because information became more transparent, unlike during communist rule, and because the elites are less likely to cheat on domestic reforms. Thus, integration is considered a positive influence in the development and maintenance of democratic institutions. The EU requires members and candidates to implement market economies and stable democracies through the Copenhagen criteria, but it does not specify at what levels. The Accession Treaties include a provision based on the Treaty on the European Union and emphasized in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which states that ‘the political criteria require applicant States to ensure the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the respect for and protection of minorities. Find the unspecified ‘level of democracy’ in the Copenhagen criteria to be problematic because it can lead to a biased selection of Prospective members
Year of publication: |
[2022]
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Authors: | Bharti, Mukesh Shankar |
Publisher: |
[S.l.] : SSRN |
Description of contents: | Abstract [papers.ssrn.com] |
Saved in:
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource (1 p) |
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Series: | |
Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments March 1, 2016 erstellt Volltext nicht verfügbar |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013299124
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