University of Twente Student Theses
EU political conditionality and compliance in the accession process of the European Union
Wibbeling, Simon (2011) EU political conditionality and compliance in the accession process of the European Union.
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| Abstract: | This bachelor thesis‘ research plans to answer the question: Which policy instruments of the EU lead to compliance with the EU‘s conditions of the EU membership candidate states? This will happen with regard to the different policy areas in which the EU wants to see compliance from the EU membership candidate states from Romania and Bulgaria in the area of the fight against corruption. Sub-questions to answer this research question are: What is political conditionality and what characteristics does it have? How does it work and under which circumstances and in which policy areas does it lead to compliance. All these questions are crucial for the success of future enlargements of the European Union. This research will with the questions it seeks to answer try to contribute to making conditionality and rule transfer from the EU to the candidate states more effective. This knowledge would help the EU in preparing the candidate states for membership and help the candidate states to comply with the EU‘s conditions. With the proposed research the aim is to clarify the nature and workings of EU conditionality make clear what factors have an influence on the effectiveness of it. In order to answer my research questions I will make use of a comparative case study in which it will be made clear how the different factors that are said to influence compliance - such as positive and negative conditionality, and the safeguard clauses have an on impact conditionality, and ultimately compliance of the candidate states. In my research in each case dealt with the dependent variable is going to be compliance and the kind of conditionality or rather the factor influencing compliance is the independent variable. In the countries of Romania and Bulgaria the workings of conditionality and hence brought about compliance or non-compliance with EU rules in the time before and after accession to the European Union will be analyzed and compared. Moreover in order to measure the level of compliance with the EU‘s rules concerning the fight against corruption in Romania and Bulgaria I will analyze the regular reports of 2001 and 2002(pre-accession phase) for both countries as well as the verification reports from 2007 and 2008 (post-accession phase). This should help in determining if compliance changed before and after accession to the European Union. Hence the main focus of this study will lie on examining the different policy instruments of conditionality, especially the safeguard clauses and on comparing compliance over time. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 89 political science |
| Programme: | European Studies BSc (56627) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/61126 |
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