The Impact of Croatia Accession on the Structure and Decision-Making in the European Union

The enlargement of the European Union (EU) has always been a topic of interest for specialists in International Relations. The study was focused (and still is) on the accession process (we include here the concern regarding the motivation of states to join the organization and the impact that EU integration has on the policies of those specific states). However, we find less concern regarding the impact of the accession of new states on the organization. The purpose of this study is to show the changes that Croatia’s accession bring to the institutional structure and decision-making process of the European Union, considering that the organization is currently going through a process of institutional reform, marked by the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.