ENLARGEMENT OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION
A study of Europeanization on Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Serbia
Abstract
Is European integration possible within the political culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Serbia? This thesis will analyze the possible challenges from Bosnian and Serbian
perspectives and compare them with previous enlargements.
Ademir Zilic
Linköping University
Master Thesis International and European Relations
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Contents
1.
2.
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1
Background .............................................................................................................................. 2
1.2
Aim and Research .................................................................................................................... 4
1.3
Design, Methods and Materials ............................................................................................... 6
1.4
Structure ................................................................................................................................ 11
Theory ............................................................................................................................................ 12
2.1
Power theory ......................................................................................................................... 13
2.2
Europeanization .................................................................................................................... 14
3. Enlargement process of the European Union .................................................................................... 16
3.1 Membership Criteria ................................................................................................................... 16
3.2 Various Stages of Enlargement .................................................................................................... 26
3.5 Bosnia and Herzegovina in the enlargement process ................................................................. 45
3.5.1 Bosnian and Herzegovinian enlargement process in general .............................................. 45
3.5.2 Human rights ........................................................................................................................ 47
3.5.3 Corruption ............................................................................................................................ 49
3.6 Serbia in the enlargement process .............................................................................................. 50
3.6.1 Serbian enlargement process in general .............................................................................. 50
3.6.2 Human rights ........................................................................................................................ 52
3.6.3 Corruption ............................................................................................................................ 55
4. Analysis .............................................................................................................................................. 58
5. Conclusion and reflections ................................................................................................................. 66
Bibliography........................................................................................................................................... 70
Litterature.......................................................................................................................................... 70
Documents and reports..................................................................................................................... 71
Internet.............................................................................................................................................. 73
1
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
This master thesis will be dealing with the European Union enlargement process. The main
focus is on Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unlike most other academic research in this
field, this thesis will not be concerned with the challenges of the enlargement from the
European Union perspective, but rather from the Bosnian and Serbian perspectives.
Furthermore, Romania and Hungary are used as “yard sticks”, to see how strict the European
Union really is when it comes to fulfilling the criteria for membership. This thesis will also
analyze the differences between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in the Europeanization
process. It is interesting to see how two similar states can be on two different levels. Serbia is
in the last phase in the enlargement process and negotiating membership, while Bosnia and
Herzegovina is still in the first phase and awaiting the opportunity to apply for membership.
The internal and external issues that have affected this situation will also be analyzed.
After the devastating military conflicts during 1990’s, the entire region is struggling with the
usual postwar reconstruction of their societies. Slovenia and Croatia have managed the best
and are already members of the European Union. Montenegro and Serbia are negotiating
membership, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is waiting to start negotiations and is
still being blocked by Greece over the name dispute and Bosnia and Herzegovina has not
submitted a formal application for membership yet. All of these six states are struggling with
postwar reconstruction. Some of them more than the others. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the
typical example of the ones who are struggling more, with a constitution based on a peace
agreement (Dayton Peace Accord) and a still ethnically divided country as a consequence of
the war 1992-1995. This ethnic division and mistrust among the peoples of Bosnia and
Herzegovina has led to a political structure where the main political parties are negotiating on
important reforms from their three different perspective – Bosniak, Croat and Serb
perspective – instead of having the common interest for the entire country in mind when
trying to reach a compromise. Most of the problems today in Bosnia and Herzegovina have
therefore an underlying ethnic background, which will be visible later in this master thesis
(the police reform process and the implementation of the Sejdic-Finci-case). For Serbia, the
issues have a more external nature. When Kosovo declared independence in 2008, the
2
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
international community was split over whether or not the new state should be recognized.
Both Serbian and Kosovo delegations were committed to strong diplomatic lobbying in other
to receive support for their side. Even in the European Union compromise was impossible and
today there are five member states that do not recognize Kosovo – Spain, Greece, Slovakia,
Cyprus and Romania. Many member states of the European Union, however, will not be keen
on accepting Serbia as a member state before this issue has been resolved. One of them is
Germany.
This thesis will focus on the issues of human rights and corruption within these two applying
states. The Copenhagen criteria for membership have included human rights and fight against
corruption as two important conditions that must be fulfilled in order to join the union. The
progress on combating corruption and building up a system that respects human rights has
been a difficult challenge for both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Corruption is
widespread and is a serious obstacle for economic development, because it keeps foreign
investors away. Both Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina need foreign investors in order to
improve the economy and especially to manage with the high unemployment rate. The respect
for human rights and the protection of minority rights, and especially Roma rights, is still a
difficult task for these two states. They have signed the major international human rights
conventions and declarations and are therefore legally obligated to fulfill their commitments.
They are also legally obligated by the European integration process and the European
Commission evaluates both countries every year on these two topics in the annual progress
reports.
3
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
1.2 Aim and Research
The aim with this thesis is to analyze the challenges in fulfilling the conditions for
membership in the European Union. This process is also called the Europeanization, the
process of integrating a candidate state into the European community. My aim is to analyze
these challenges from the perspectives of two candidate states in the Western Balkans. For
this study, I chose Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. These two states have been chosen
because they are a “most-similar”-case with different problems and on different parts of the
European integration process.
The future enlargement of the European Union towards the Western Balkans states can be
seen as a possible challenge for the other members as well. With enlargement comes deeper
integration and cooperation. In border control policy, this means opening up the borders and
letting Bosnian and Serbian citizens travel free in the Schengen area with a EU passport. This
is where the enlargement in the Western Balkans becomes a concern for the entire European
Union – the new citizens. The Copenhagen economic criteria on combating corruption,
creating macroeconomic stability and improving the socioeconomic situation in the country
are therefore usually given more attention in the annual progress reports. The future
enlargement is a challenge for all of us and it is therefore important to be able to see the
challenge from different perspectives. Previous research have mostly been focused on the
institutional perspective of the European Union and how new member states will affect the
institutional structure of the union. Here the focus is on how the European Union, in the
process of Europeanization, will affect Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
Therefore, this thesis will focus on the enlargement process as a process of Europeanization in
order to analyze the different challenges and difficulties the EU enlargement is facing in terms
of two chosen policy areas. These two policy areas are human rights and corruption. For the
thesis to have a logical structure, following questions have been chosen to work closely with:
1. Is the Europeanization process possible in the political culture of Bosnia-Herzegovina
and Serbia in the policy-areas of human rights and corruption?
2. What are the challenges of the enlargement process, and therefore also the
Europeanization process, in terms of national policy-making in Bosnia-Herzegovina
and Serbia? Looking at and comparing with Hungary and Romania, how much does
the European Union really care about some of the membership criteria?
4
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
The research problem is partly based on identifying how well the two states in the Western
Balkans can adjust or if they can adjust to the European political normative culture. It is also
partly based on identifying possible challenges in the enlargement process from the Bosnian
and Serbian perspectives. This process is often called the process of Europeanization. The
eight countries from the old eastern European bloc that joined in 2004 (Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia) are often analyzed from
the perspective of Europeanization. The European integration process for these eight countries
went faster than for the countries in the Western Balkans and in particular BosniaHerzegovina and Serbia. Is the conclusion here that the political culture is more different in
the Western Balkans and the challenges more to overcome in the process of Europeanization
than it was during the European integration process of the eastern European bloc? The
comparative part of the analysis will be based on Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and
comparing these two with each other. However, in order to broaden the perspective on the
challenges the European integration process is facing in these two countries, there is also a
third comparison with states nearby that have already been in the European Union
enlargement process and through the Europeanization process. In the long run, this will
benefit the research result. In other words, Hungary and Romania are used as “yardsticks” in
order to see how much the European Union really cares about the corruption and human rights
criteria when judging a candidate country. Romania is a member state that has been heavily
criticized for its lack of fighting corruption and managing respect for human rights, in specific
rights for the ethnic Roma minority in the country, since joining the EU in 2007. Hungary has
received a lot of critical voices because of the human rights situation in the country in recent
years. The situation has gone worse since the central-right parties in government decided to
make changes to the Hungarian constitution that goes against some democratic principles,
such as human rights. The European Union court has acted against Hungary in some cases,
especially minority Roma cases, so far. This will give the thesis some room to discuss how
much does the European Union really care about these two issues, human rights and
corruption.
In conclusion, the aim with this thesis is to examine and analyze how the enlargement process
of the European Union can be seen as a process of Europeanization from the perspectives of
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The focus will be on human rights and corruption.
5
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
1.3 Design, Methods and Materials
This master thesis has a comparative case study approach. In order to fulfill the aim and
answer the questions as good as possible, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are being
compared to each other. Hungary and Romania are compared to the two Western Balkans
states in order to see how well the European Union sticks to the membership criteria when
accepting a new state.
Several different materials are used in the area of Europeanization and power theory relations
in the world. These two theories are at the heart of this thesis. Documents from the European
Union have also been, both research documents and evaluation documents. The annual
progress reports from the European Commission have been very helpful in order to see how
the situation with human rights and corruption has developed in the applying states. Research
reports on the impact of European integration on the Western Balkans states ten years after
the Thessaloniki Declaration 2013 have been used in order to see how well the
Europeanization process is proceeding in the region.
The main methodological approach in this thesis is content analysis. Focus is on related
literature, documents, and other important writings from related actors. When trying to choose
methods for the master thesis, focus has been on what methodological approach would benefit
the research in the best possible way. Other alternatives, such as quantitative analysis, with
surveys and collecting primary data numbers, will not be used in this master thesis. However,
secondary data numbers from international organizations, such as Transparency International
Perceptions Index have been used. This in order to strengthen the analysis and conclusion
with statistical facts.
Good and high level of validity in the analysis and conclusion is one of the aims with these
thesis and that is why using the best possible methodological approaches crucial. Using the
wrong methodological approach towards a research project could lead towards the research
results becoming less valid and therefore for example not useful in future research projects.
Several kinds of materials have been studied in order to broaden the perspective on the
important field of Europeanization. This is why the thesis has taken on a comparative study
form as well, where the focus will also be on the differences between American and European
Union power relations in international relations and also the differences between the
6
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Europeanization of post-communist states in East Europe and the Western Balkans (especially
Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Hard, soft and smart power are being examined from this
perspective. The comparative method will bring more credibility to the research result of this
thesis.
Why have Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia been chosen? As mentioned earlier, this thesis
will have a comparative case study character. These two states are a most-similar-design.
From a lot of perspectives (cultural, political, economic, social etc), Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Serbia have a lot of characteristics in common. However, there are important things in the
internal political life within these two states that still creates a difference between them.
Serbia is today negotiating full membership within the European Union (last step in the
integration process), while Bosnia and Herzegovina is still to ratify the stabilization and
association agreement (first step in the integration process). How come there’s a difference
and it’s so wide. This situation is very interesting and this thesis is trying to give some
answers when looking into the two cases and studying them in deep. What’s in BosniaHerzegovina that makes the entire integration process more difficult that Serbia does not have
to struggle with?
When studying the power theories, soft and smart power, emphasis has been on the works of
Joseph Nye. Nye has been named as the one who “established” the soft power theory and later
on also the smart power theory. He is a Harvard professor and former Assistant Secretary of
Defense under the Clinton Administration. Joseph Nye is specialized in power strategy and
has written several academic texts, in literature and journals, on the topic of soft and smart
power. Nye writes a lot about the United States power in international relations in his works,
which will give me an opportunity to make some comparison between the US and the
European Union power relations. “The Future of Power” (2011) is one of Nyes most recent
works that gives a more theoretical perspective on power and more precisely soft power.
Another one that is used here is Joseph Nyes “Soft Power: The Means to Success in World
Politics” (2004). This is the first book Nye wrote where the further developed the concept of
soft power and how it’s applied in international relations today. The concept of power in
international relations is focused on the US here, however this does not mean that the
European Union cannot be compared with the theories that Joseph Nye lays out.
7
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
From a critical perspective, one needs to use more than one source and more than one
perspective on a specific matter in order for the research result to be as good as possible, with
a high level of credibility. This is why focus will also be on the academic writers that have
criticized the theories of Joseph Nye in order to perhaps have a critical perspective on the soft
power strategy that the European Union may be enforcing on Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In this critical field against Joseph Nye there are first of all neorealist authors, such as Niall
Ferguson in “Colossus” (2005). In this book, Niall Ferguson claims the provocative idea that
the United States is an empire, which has been rising since a century backwards and may be
the greatest imperial power of all time. However, Ferguson also gives a warning signal to the
future of American power, which could also work as a warning signal to the future of the
European Union soft power. The critical voices towards future enlargement are growing
within the European Union, while the critical voices in the candidate states (including Serbia
and Bosnia-Herzegovina) are using the financial crisis in the European Union to become
stronger and create a more critical perspective against EU membership within these two
states.
Europeanization is, as mentioned above, a somewhat new term in the theoretical school of
European politics if put in the context of European Union enlargement. Here I will be using
many different literature works in order to broaden my perspective and the research result of
this thesis. First one is “European Union Politics” (2013) by Michelle Cini. This literature
gives a very good authoritative and comprehensive overview of the European Union theories,
institutions and politics. The enlargement process is examined through the theory of
Europeanization, which fits perfectly with the theme of this master thesis. “The Politics of
Europeanization” by Kevin Featherstone and Claudio M. Radaelli is used in order to examine
the political aspects of European integration and Europeanization. This literature focus on
domestic national policies and how they may be affected by further Europeanization. The
third option is “Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe” (2005) by Frank
Schimmelfennig and Ulrich Sedelmeier. This has a more broad perspective on the theme of
Europeanization and does not only focus on the economic parts and consequences of the
enlargement process. Other scholars go further and claim that the process of Europeanization
and the term Europeanization is not something unique and new in the theoretical world that
just emerged because of the big European Union enlargements since the end of the Cold War.
Wolfgang Schmale gives in his academic text “Processes of Europeanization” the long history
8
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
of this term, which can be dated all the way back to the times of the Roman Empire. During
the times of European colonialism and imperialism, before the 20th century, this term was
used to describe the spread of European culture, politics, institutions and theory to the outside
World. However, the first mention of Europeanization was the spread of the Roman culture
with the enlargement of the Roman Empire1. The concept and theory of Europeanization can
therefore be examined through many different perspectives and it is important to remember
that Europeanization was not established because of the enlargement process of the European
Union. It is, however, today mostly examined in the context of European integration and
enlargement process. The term is therefore used in this context throughout the thesis.
The evaluation of the Thessaloniki Declaration ten years later is important to understand how
the Europeanization process have proceeded so far for the Western Balkans states. In 2003,
with the signing of the Thessaloniki Declaration, the Western Balkans states were for the first
time given a futuristic perspective on membership in the European Union. In the short-term,
they were given the Stabilization and Association Process which would prepare them for
future enlargement. “The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki at 10
(2003-2013)” edited by Eviola Prifti with ten different chapters and different authors for all
the chapters have been used in this thesis in order to give a historical perspectives on how the
Europeanization process have proceeded so far. Important areas, such as democratization
(human rights), cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia
(ICTY), fight against organized crime and corruption, and the impact of European Union on
good governance in the Western Balkans are being lifted in this evaluation.
Last but not least, the annual enlargement reports that the European Commission provides are
crucial for this thesis. When measuring over a longer time (five or ten years), it is important to
understand how the development process of Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina has proceeded so
far in the frame of European integration. Old progress reports on Romania and Hungary from
the years when they were approved as new members (2003 and 2007) are being used in order
to compare with the new progress reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The aim
here is to see whether or not the European Union has become tougher with the conditions in
the Copenhagen criteria package. As mentioned above, statistical secondary data have been
1
Schmale, Wolfgang. Processes of Europeanization. European History Online. Published 2010-10-03.
http://www.ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/backgrounds/europeanization/wolfgang-schmale-processes-ofeuropeanization
9
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
used from international NGOs, Transparency International and Human Development Index, to
give a wider perspective in the analysis part and to show where Serbia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Hungary and Romania stand in socioeconomic standard and corruption
compared with each other. Once again, the index years picked here are based on important
milestones in the Europeanization process of these four states.
The methodology of this master thesis is based on what and how the research problem can be
best solved or answered. In terms of analyzing the challenges of the enlargement process, I
have used reports from the European Union institutions and especially the annual enlargement
reports from the European Commission. The first question is more theoretical, with an
empirical approach. The possibility of the Europeanization process have been analyzed
through resources that evaluate the enlargement process so far. For example, the report on the
Western Balkans ten years after the Thessaloniki Declaration.
Primary statistical data is another methodological approach that can be used in academic
research. However, that is not suitable for this kind of research, which has a more theoretical
and analyzing focus. Primary statistical data approach could have been used if the focus in
this thesis was instead on for example exploring the attitude among the citizens in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Serbia towards a possible membership in the European Union or how they
perceive the changes in the society that may arise as a direct consequence from the
enlargement process. That way, by collecting the opinions of the citizens through surveys and
opinion polls, this method would have been more suitable. However, in this kind of master
thesis, that has a more theoretical and comparative approach, it would have been a weakness
and not much contribution to the result.
The weakness with the approach that I have chosen depends first of all on how high or low
validity the resources that I use in this thesis have. Primary resources, such as the reports from
the European Commission and the data from the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), have a
high validity because they have been written directly by observers on the field. These
observers are usually experts in their field of studying. The Corruption Perception Index for
example captures the view of analysts, businesspeople and experts from around the world,
that are working closely with the international NGO Transparency International2.
2
Transparency International. http://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/overview
10
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
One of the more important things to think about when studying methodological approach is
the time perspective. The older material is being used, the lower will the validity be of the
thesis result. This could be another weakness for a research like this. It becomes very
important for this thesis that the material being used is in accordance with the moment of
enlargement process being analyzed. This means, for example, the annual progress reports on
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2013, if I want to compare them to Hungary and
Romania during those years they received their last progress reports as candidate states. That
way, the comparative case study on how much does the European Union really care about the
Copenhagen criteria will have more validity.
1.4 Structure
The structure of this thesis has been divided into five different parts (chapters). The first
chapter is the introduction part, where the aim with the thesis is presented and the problem is
formulated, with two research questions. There is also a background to the challenges of the
Europeanization issues. The first part ends with a discussion the methodological approach,
including the materials that have been chosen.
Chapter two examines the power theories and the theory of Europeanization that has been
used in this thesis. There is also a discussion on the theories used and on the alternative
theories that maybe could have been used.
Chapter three is the wider part of this thesis, the empirical part with all the facts concerning
Romania, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia have been collected and studied in
the field of European integration, human rights and corruption. The third chapter also gives an
introduction in how the enlargement process works and what the conditions and rules are for
the enlargement process (the introduction of the Copenhagen criteria).
The fourth chapter of this thesis is an analysis of the issues presented in the empirical part.
These are all based on the two widely formulated questions in the first chapter under “Aim
and Problem”. The analysis part looks at the possibilities of future enlargement by analyzing
some of the challenges that the Western Balkans are facing the area of Europeanization,
human rights and corruption today. The impact of the European Union has also been analyzed
through the power theories, mostly soft power theory.
11
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
In the last and fifth chapter there’s a conclusion and some reflecting thoughts on where the
Western Balkans states are heading and how the Europeanization process might proceed in
the future. The conclusion part also tries to answer the questions that have been presented in
the first chapter and analyzed in the fourth chapter.
2. Theory
The theories of Europeanization and power relations in the world will be applied to this thesis.
The process of Europeanization is often used to describe the adjustment of an entire political
culture in the former communist states of East Europe and today the Western Balkans states
on their path towards membership in the European Union. In this process, the European
12
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Union exercise impact on these candidate states through both soft power and smart power,
however also through hard power from the economic perspective.
2.1 Power theory
The impact of the European Union on Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia is strong because these
two countries are applying to eventually join the union in the long run. In order to analyze the
impact of the European Union on these two states, theories of power in international relations
have been used, especially in domestic policy-making. Focus is first of all on soft power
theory and smart power theory. The concept of soft power was established by Joseph Nye
(Harvard University professor). Nye wanted to describe how, in international relations,
international organizations, states and other actors could have the ability to attract other actors
to act in a certain way without using force or some other type of hard power. According to
Joseph Nye:
“A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries – admiring its
values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness – want to follow it.”3
The European Union, no matter if it wants to be that actor or not, has become something that
Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are aspiring for because these two states believe membership
in the European Union will bring political, economic and social stability. However, the
critical perspective on the soft power theory in relation with the European Union enlargement
process is in the attracting force. Soft power theory is based on attracting other actors because
other actors wants to be like you or wants something that you have. This essentially means
that the European Union impact on Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina has worked, because the
EU has made itself the attractive option for these two states. The evidence for this theory can
be seen in Ukraine today, with the demonstrations for European Union membership since the
Ukrainian president said no to association agreement with the EU. Nye said that “seduction is
always more powerful than coercion”, which is more than often used to describe the soft
power theory in a perfect way.4
Another theory of power that has been used in this thesis is the smart power theory. However,
this theory cannot be identified with the European Union as obviously as the soft power
3
4
Nye, Joseph. Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs, 2004).
Nye, Joseph. Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs, 2004).
13
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
theory. Joseph Nye has also influenced this theory very much. The basic element of smart
power theory is that smart power is a combination between hard power and soft power
strategies. The argument here is that using only hard power or soft power will not be effective
enough, but just inadequate. But this does not apply to every given situation in international
relations5. The European Union may be better off using soft power towards states in the
closest neighborhood, which includes the two states that this thesis will focus on in the
Western Balkans. If we have a look at hard power as a mean of using military or any other
form of physical force to coerce Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to join the European Union,
then we can already now claim that the European Union is not based on the third option at all
– that is hard power. However, important to remember is that the European Union has a
peace-keeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina that is helping to rebuild a post-war society. This
in itself can be seen as something that in the long run will benefit the EU enlargement process
and the EU. Indirectly, one could claim that the European Union is using an inactive kind of
force to get Bosnia-Herzegovina closer towards membership. This thesis is not focusing on
hard power at all, but this question is an interesting one that should be discussed.
Furthermore, the smart power theory has been discussed in the US context more often than in
a European Union context.
2.2 Europeanization
Europeanization is the theory that best describes the enlargement process of the European
Union as a process of democratization and the adjustment of a state’s political culture,
national policy-making and institutions with the normative political culture of the European
Union. There are, however, several definitions of Europeanization and they are compatible in
different fields, but in the field of social science and European politics, it refers to the
European integration process and the enlargement process. When studying the enlargement
process as a part of Europeanization means studying Europeanization from a vertical
perspective. The other part, the horizontal perspective that has not been used in this thesis
deals with the transfer of power from member state level to union level. One example of that
is the creation of a common currency and the member states using the euro as their national
currency have transferred monetary policy from national central banks to the European
Central Bank (ECB). The horizontal approach studies the power relation from top to down of
the European Union (all the way from the union level down to local level). The main focus in
5
Gavel, Doug. "Joseph Nye on Smart Power". Harvard University Kennedy School. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
14
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
this thesis is however on the external relations of the European Union in the process of
enlargement and not on the internal power relation issues between several levels of power in
the European Union6. The theory of Europeanization is at the heart of the enlargement
process. There are not many theories evolved in this field because the enlargement process did
not become a popular topic until the fall of the former communist east European bloc. When
the chance came to finally unify Europe and with ten new countries, former communist states
in the old Eastern Europe, began their European integration and enlargement process, this
topic became more discussed and theorized.
What is the purpose of European integration and Europeanization process? Scholars tend to
disagree here when it comes to theorizing Europeanization. However, one thing most of them
agree upon is the end goal of Europeanization process. This means a completely unified
Europe, or a European federal state. Some have even mentioned United States of Europe. This
is where the linear concept of European integration is created. In one end, the beginning, we
have a Europe ruled by sovereign and independent states with no intergovernmental
cooperation. In the other end, the goal of the European integration process, we have the
federal state of Europe, where member states become subunits. From this perspective, the
argument and the conclusion is that we have not yet reached full European integration.7
From the perspectives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the possible challenges in the
enlargement process could eventually be linked to the academic term Europeanization. In
analyzing their challenges on the path towards membership in the European Union, I will
therefore be using the theory of Europeanization as described above. Integrating into the
European Union structures means wider reforms in national policy for candidate states. These
wider reforms usually tend to contribute to changing the political culture within the candidate
state, if not dramatically every time, at least in a very comprehensive manner. For Serbia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina this could become a more tough challenge than for the others,
especially when it comes to corruption and human rights, the two policy areas that this thesis
focus on. The entire process of Europeanization is linked to the first research question of this
thesis and I want to analyze whether or not, from the possible challenges in the field of human
rights and corruption, this process is possible to complete. Complete here means that these
two states become members of the European Union. The other technical term for complete, as
6
Olsen, John. The Many Faces of Europeanization. ARENA Working Papers, 2002.
Pirro B, Ellen and Zeff E, Eleanor. Europeanization, European Integration, and Globalization. The Whitehead
Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations. Page 210.
7
15
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
mentioned above, is the wider perspective on the entire continent, where the European Union
eventually becomes a federal state (United States of Europe for example).
3. Enlargement process of the European Union
3.1 Membership Criteria
Before a European state can join the European Union, it must fulfill the criteria that has been
set out by the EU member states. The two main conditions that must be fulfilled are in the
Treaty of the European Union and in the Copenhagen criteria for enlargement. The European
Union member states are obliged to consider the Treaty before making decisions, especially
big ones such as the enlargement of the union.
16
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
The Lisbon Treaty was signed in 2007 by all the member states and is considered as amends
on the two core treaties of the union – the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty
establishing the European Community. In order for the European Union and its member states
to act on a decision, they need to have support for it in the Lisbon Treaty, which has become
like a “constitution” for the union. According to Article 49 in the Lisbon Treaty, the European
Union is open for enlargement.
“Any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them may
apply to become a member of the Union. The European Parliament and national Parliaments shall be notified of
this application. The applicant State shall address its application to the Council, which shall act unanimously
after consulting the Commission and after receiving the consent of the European Parliament, which shall act by a
majority of its component members. The conditions of eligibility agreed upon by the European Council shall be
taken into account.” (Article 49, The Lisbon Treaty)8
Article 49 makes it legally possible for the European Union to grow bigger through various
stages of enlargement. The process of the enlargement is also explained in Article 49 in short.
In the next article, Article 50, it is explained how one member state of the European Union
can leave the union, which also has legal possibility.
However, the first sentence in Article 49 on enlargement has often been discussed and hard to
interpret. When one says “European State”, how many states does that include? What limit
should be considered? Looking at the eastern borders of Europe, that limit has geographically
been at for example the Bosphorus. The Bosphorus is a strait that runs through Istanbul,
dividing the Turkish city into two parts – a European and an Asian part. Turkey has for a long
time been a candidate country for joining the European Union. However, there has been a
debate on the status of the country and whether or not it can be described as “European”
according to Article 49 of the Lisbon Treaty. 97 % of the Turkish territory lies in Asia and the
country is therefore not a European state from the geographical perspective. But from other
perspectives, such as cultural and political, it is considered “European”9.
Another disputed case geographically is the Republic of Cyprus. This island is situated in the
eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea and is usually associated with Asia and the Middle
8
The Lisbon Treaty. Consolidated texts of the EU treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon. UK Government.
2008. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228848/7310.pdf
(Downloaded: April 1st, 2014)
9
Arguments For and Against Turkey’s EU-membership. Webbsite “Debating Europe”.
http://www.debatingeurope.eu/focus/infobox-arguments-for-and-against-turkeys-eumembership/#.UzrIH_l_smg (downloaded: April 1st, 2014)
17
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
East10. However, Cyprus joined the European Union 2004 (only the south part of the island)
and the Council of Europe in 1961). This illustrates an important example of how flexible the
European Union member states can be in issues like the enlargement and in interpreting the
Lisbon Treaty. “European” can be seen from several other perspectives and the geographical
perspective is just one of them. When Morocco applied for full membership in 1987, they
were rejected. The European Commission argued that Morocco was not a “European
country”. Even though there is no clear definition in the European Union treaties and the
Copenhagen criteria on what “European” means, the European Commission can still make the
decision on whether or not the applying state can or cannot join under this criteria. In
Morocco’s case, they could not11.
Article 49 on the enlargement of the European Union also refers to Article 2 and the
importance of promoting the values of the European Union that Article 2 sets out. This is
what Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty says:
“The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law
and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common
to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and
equality between women and men prevail.” (Article 2, Lisbon Treaty) 12
This master thesis on the enlargement of the European Union and the challenges from the
perspectives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia will be dealing with two policy areas. One
of those two are human rights as a condition for joining the European Union. Respect for and
fulfilling of human rights is one of the main conditions for not only states applying to join the
European Union but also for states that are already members because of the Article 2 in the
Lisbon Treaty. The applying candidate states are obliged to fulfill their commitments that they
have consent to in the beginning of the process. By making a reference to Article 2, Article 49
(on enlargement of the European Union) makes it clear that the candidate countries also have
to respect human rights. There are further details on the human rights criteria in the
Copenhagen agreement.
10
Cyprus. Webbsite CIA World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/cy.html (Downloaded April 1st, 2014)
11
Oxfod Business Group. The Report – Morocco 2012. Chapter: Like a Good Neighbour. Page 27. 2012.
12
The Lisbon Treaty. Consolidated texts of the EU treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon. UK Government.
2008. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228848/7310.pdf
(Downloaded: April 2nd, 2014)
18
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
The fight against corruption is the other national policy that this master thesis will be
studying. Article 2 clearly says that the member states of the European Union needs to have a
respect for the rule of law. For applying states in the Western Balkans, such as BosniaHerzegovina and Serbia, this issue has been one of the more tough ones to handle in the
process of European integration. Even for Croatia, a former applying state that became a
member of the European Union on July 1st 2013. For a long time, the Croatian membership
was slowed down by the European Commission and the annual progress reports because
Croatian government and authorities did not show enough progress in the fight against
corruption. Even after joining there are still some concerns. The EU Anti-Corruption Report
shows that Croatia has a legal framework to combat corruption, but implementation of anticorruption legislation and measures are still going slow or even lacking, especially at the local
level13. This shows that even though an applying candidate state has become a member state
of the European Union, the problems dealing with corruption are still there. They are obliged
according to the Lisbon Treaty to continue the struggle against corruption. Before
membership, they were obliged by the Copenhagen membership criteria as well. Later on in
this thesis, when human rights will be studied, we will see that critical perspectives have
pointed out that there should be a strict control on how the member states fulfill the respect
for human rights, just like the Copenhagen membership criteria are for the applying candidate
states. There are several human rights issues in both applying states (Serbia and BosniaHerzegovina) but also in member states that recently joined the union (Romania and
Hungary). These cases are presented and compared more thoroughly in later parts of this
master thesis.
After looking at the Lisbon Treaty, we can conclude that the enlargement of the European
Union and the entire European integration process have legitimacy and legal support. Then
we may ask ourselves the question “how” and on “what legal grounds” should the applying
state be considered before joining the European Union. This is where the Copenhagen criteria
on the enlargement of the European Union becomes important. It includes all the necessary
conditions that needs to be fulfilled before a candidate state can become a member state.
The accession criteria of the European Union, also called the Copenhagen criteria, were
established by the European Council in Copenhagen 1993. These criteria came as a result
13
Budimir, Davorka. Article: EU Anti-Corruption Report: National Reactions from Croatia. Transparency
International EU Office Homepage. URL: http://www.transparencyinternational.eu/2014/02/eu-anticorruption-report-national-reactions-from-croatia/ (downloaded: April 2nd 2014).
19
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
after the end of the Cold War and the “new order” had been established in Europe. With the
Iron Curtain being gone, the former communist states of Eastern Europe made European
integration and membership in the European Union as the main goal within foreign policy.
The ten candidate states that became members on May 1st 2004 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus) were the first big
group of states to receive full membership going through the Copenhagen criteria. The
accession criteria in the Copenhagen agreement are divided into three different parts, or three
different kinds of criteria. These cover and affect the entire political system of a candidate
state that applies to join the European Union. The three different criteria are political,
economic and administrative14. Critical perspectives on the Copenhagen criteria have argued
that the criteria package do not take into account the willingness or ability of the European
Union to further expand their borders. There are demands that the Copenhagen criteria should
be modified with clear instructions on how big the European Union can get (where the
external borders should be) and how much more can the European Union “absorb”15. More
critical perspectives on the future enlargement of the European Union and on the Copenhagen
criteria are presented and discussed in later parts of this thesis.
The political criteria part from the Copenhagen criteria package deals with issues related to
governance, democracy, human rights, rule of law, stable institutions etc. This is the most
important criteria for this thesis, which is dealing with policy issues in the field of anticorruption policies and human rights16. The European Union evaluates through annual
progress reports how the candidate and potential candidate states are doing in the enlargement
process. The European Commission is in charge of the annual progress reports. The annual
progress reports show how well the applying states are adjusting to the Copenhagen criteria.
Thereby the European Commission can decide on whether or not to recommend a certain
applying state for full membership when and if the Copenhagen criteria have been fulfilled.
More about the technical and institutional process of the enlargement of the European Union
later in this thesis. There is no clear checklist that the European Commission follows when
evaluating the applying candidate states. Human rights is a very big part of the Copenhagen
14
EU information webbsite. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/glossary/terms/accessioncriteria_en.htm (downloaded: April 5th 2014).
15
House of Lords. European Union – Fifty-Third Report. November 7th, 2006. UK parliament website. URL:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldselect/ldeucom/273/27307.htm (downloaded: April
7th, 2014).
16
Veebel, Viljar. Relevance of Copenhagen Criteria in Actual Accession: Principles, Methods and Shortcomings of
EU Pre-accession Evaluation. Issue 3. Vol 3. Studies of Transition States and Societies. November 2011.
20
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
criteria and the political criteria. When evaluating the applying state, the European
Commission looks for information from a third party which is not involved in the government
of the candidate state. For example, when it comes to the human rights situation, the European
Commission often uses the information from international Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs), International Organizations and the civil society organizations within that certain
candidate state. The European Commission has, for example, evaluated the cooperation
between Serbian authorities and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in Hague, The Netherlands, in close cooperation with the recommends
and opinions that the ICTY has given on Serbia’s progress on catching war crimes suspects.
One of the conditions for Serbian membership in the European Union are good cooperation
with the United Nations court ICTY17. The European Commission also works closely with the
governmental institutions of the candidate states when analyzing how well they have adopt to
the Copenhagen criteria. The constitution, the parliament and the government are all
evaluated based on their work during the year that the progress report analyzes. The last held
elections within the candidate state is also evaluated under the Copenhagen political criteria.
It is an essential part of the democratic principle, rule of law and human rights. The minority
rights are also very important and the European Commission makes sure to pay more
attention to this part because of the tough situation for minorities within the candidate states.
In the last Serbian progress report, most focus was on the Roma population and the LGBTI
persons. For example, the banning of the Belgrade Pride parade that was supposed to be held
on September 28th was criticized18. The progress reports of the European Commission are
annual and cover all the candidate and potential candidate states.
The economic criteria from the Copenhagen criteria is dealing with issues that concerns
economic development within the applying candidate state. The European Commission
evaluates the economic criteria based on the conclusions from the Copenhagen Council 1993,
which requires a functioning market economy and the capacity to deal with competitive
pressure from the internal market of the European Union19. When the European Commission
is evaluating an applying state it divides the economic criteria (just like the political criteria)
17
European Commission. Serbia 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document. 16.10.2013. Page
6
18
European Commission. Serbia 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document. 16.10.2013. Page
11.
19
European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document.
16.10.2013. Page 22.
21
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
in three different categories. The first one is “The existence of a functioning market
economy”, which is based on what the European Council agreed upon during the Copenhagen
summit in 1993. The cooperation between the European Union and other international
organization becomes obvious here as well. In the progress report on Bosnia and Herzegovina
in 2013, the European Commission turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order
to see how the Bosnian economy has developed during the past year. The World Bank
decreased its budgetary support operation due to the lack of implementations of reforms in the
area of cash transfer. This sends a signal to the European Union to even put a pressure on
Bosnian government on what needs to be done in order to, not only continue receiving
financial support, but also fulfilling economic criteria and getting closer to membership in the
European Union. The financial support is crucial for Bosnia and Herzegovina, because a lot of
important and expensive reforms could not be adopted without the support20.
Macroeconomic stability is also under the economic criteria of the Copenhagen criteria
package. The GDP development, the external public dept, the budgetary deficit etc. These are
all important elements when the European Commission evaluates the macroeconomic stability
of the applying candidate state. After a candidate state becomes a member state, it can choose
whether or not it want to take further step in the European integration process and join the
European Monetary Union (EMU) and thereby adopt the common currency Euro. One of the
main criteria for adopting the euro is the inflation rate, which cannot be higher than 2 %. The
European Commission is therefore evaluating the inflation development in the candidate state
under the economic criteria, even though there is no inflation rule for joining the European
Union, there still is one for joining the European Monetary Union21. The economic criteria are
supposed to make the candidate state ready for the internal market of the European Union.
They are supposed to help the applying candidate state to establish a functioning market
oriented economy that can meet the competitive pressure from the internal market of the
European Union once it has joined the union. The problem in this area for Bosnia and
Herzegovina last year, for example, was the large government sector that makes it tough for
market mechanisms to work efficiently, which is necessary for a member state of the
20
European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document.
16.10.2013. Page 23.
21
European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document.
16.10.2013. Page 23.
22
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
European Union22. Unemployment rate is another important object that the European
Commission evaluates in the Copenhagen economic criteria. The member states represented
in the European Council (Head of States) want to know how the workforce situation is in the
applying candidate state before allowing them to join the European Union and the internal
market, which includes the four freedoms – free movement of people, goods, services and
capital. This includes the labour force, which receives freedom to move and work in any other
member state of the European Union once an applying candidate state has become a member
state23. When the unemployment rate is high in a member state of the European Union, that
very same member state will fear granting membership to an applying candidate state that has
high unemployment rates as well. This is, however, only at risk when the European Union is
in a financial crisis. Blocking candidate states to become member states have happened
before, most recently The Netherlands blocking Serbia because the Serbian authorities have
for a very long time failed to capture the three biggest suspects for war crimes during the
Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s. Eventually, Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and Goran Hadzic
were captured and sent to the UN court ICTY in Hague, which made the Netherlands unblock
the European integration process for Serbia24. Blocking issues tend to be more about the
political criteria than the economic criteria. However, when it comes to accepting a new
member state in the European Monetary Union (EMU), the economic criteria becomes more
important.
The third part of the Copenhagen criteria usually goes under the name “the administrative
criteria”. This is where the European Commission makes sure that the applying candidate
state can adopt the policies and adjust the legislation to the European Union “acquis”. “The
acquis” includes all current European Union rules25. For example, the progress report from
2013 on Bosnia and Herzegovina evaluates how well the Bosnian government is adopting to
the internal market of the European Union. One of the Bosnians institutions that the European
Commission evaluated was the Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(BAS). BAS had managed to adopt and implement 77 % of the European standards, which are
22
European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document.
16.10.2013. Page 27.
23
European Commission. The EU Single Market. General Policy Framework. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/top_layer/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 7th 2014).
24
Vucheva, Elitsa. Netherlands Blocks EU-Serbia Trade Deal. EU Observer article. Posted: 15.09.08. URL:
http://euobserver.com/enlargement/26743 (Downloaded: April 7th 2014).
25
European Commission. Enlargement. What is negotiated? URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/conditions-membership/index_en.htm (downloaded April 7th 2014).
23
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
required for membership in European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC)26. These all are small
parts of the European integration process. They are also important parts of the process of
Europeanization. The term Europeanization means when an applying candidate state adjusts a
big part of the political culture to the ruling European norms and principles. In this case, it is
about things such as functioning market economy, liberal democracy, respect for human
rights, anti-corruption legislation and implementation etc. It can also be institutional changes,
such as the one mentioned above on Bosnian progress report 2013. This adjustment process is
necessary because once the applying state has become a new member state of the European
Union, it has also agreed upon putting European Union law above national law in those
political, economic and social areas where the European Union have exclusive competence.
These areas are written down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
in the Lisbon Treaty, Article 3:
“1. The Union shall have exclusive competence in the following areas:
(a) customs union;
(b) the establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market;
(c) monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro;
(d) the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries
policy;
(e) common commercial policy.” (Article 3, TFEU, Lisbon Treaty) 27.
The Copenhagen economic criteria becomes very clear here and especially the parts on
establishing a functioning market economy and making sure the new member state can cope
with the competitive pressure from the European Union internal market. Furthermore, the
European Union laws are divided into three different categories. These are regulations,
directives and decisions28. Regulations have direct effect and are legally binding for the
member state automatically when the European Union adopts it. Directives do not have a
26
European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document.
16.10.2013. Page 29.
27
The Lisbon Treaty. Consolidated texts of the EU treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon. UK Government.
2008. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228848/7310.pdf
(Downloaded: April 8th, 2014)
28
European Commission. Application of EU Law. What is EU law?. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/eu_law/introduction/treaty_en.htm (downloaded: April 8th, 2014)
24
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
direct effect, they instead set out the legal framework and the result that must be achieved in a
certain amount of time. It is then up to the member state to decide how to implement the
directive. Just like directives, European Union decisions turns to specific parties, cases or
policy areas and are fully binding. The can come from either one of the main three European
Union institutions (the Council, the Parliament or the Commission). The Copenhagen
administrative criteria will show the European Commission how well the applying candidate
states can adopt to European Union laws when they eventually join the union. It is important
for the functioning of the European Union that every member state can implement the
European Union legislation without difficulties. The complicated political system of Bosnia
and Herzegovina has therefore given the European Union reasons to worry on whether or not
this potential candidate state can adopt European Union laws effectively. In the progress
report 2013 from the European Commission, the evaluation shows clearly how tough it is for
the Bosnian political system and the different political levels to adopt to the European Union
laws29.
Historically, the European Union has seven successful enlargements. What began as a
cooperation between six states in Western Europe (West Germany, Netherlands, Belgium,
Luxembourg, France and Italy) is today a union of twenty-eight states. Six became twentyeight trough seven enlargements. These are:
1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom
1981 – Greece
1986 – Portugal and Spain
1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden
2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia
and Slovenia
2007 – Bulgaria and Romania
2013 – Croatia30
29
European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina 2013 Progress Report. Commission Staff Working Document.
16.10.2013. Page 28-39.
30
Pusca, Anca. European Union: Challenges and Promises of a New Enlargement. International Debate
Education Association. 2003. Page 32.
25
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
The 2013 enlargement with Croatia joining will certainly not be the last one. Montenegro and
Serbia are right now negotiating full membership, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
and Albania are candidate states for full membership and awaiting starting date for
membership negotiations. Turkey started negotiations in October 2005, but certain chapters in
the negotiations have been blocked because of certain Turkish internal and external issues,
such as the relations with the European Union member state Cyprus and the human rights
situation in Turkey. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a potential candidate state who is expected to
soon apply for membership and receive candidate status. All of these want to join and when
they are ready, when they have fulfilled the criteria, they are welcome to join, according to the
European Union officials. There will be future enlargements of the European Union, the
question is when? This section have now examined the legal possibilities for the enlargement
of the European Union and the criteria (Copenhagen agreement from 1993) for joining the
European Union. Next section looks at the technical process of the enlargement of the
European Union. The road towards full membership varies between states. For some the
membership negotiations can last for eight years (Croatia), more than twenty years (Turkey)
or a couple of years (Sweden, Finland and Austria). It all depends on how well and how
quickly the candidate state adjusts and adopts the European Union criteria. This is not an easy
task for every candidate state. This master thesis is presenting in the analysis part why state as
Bosnia and Herzegovina may fall behind in the integration process, while states as Serbia,
Romania and Hungary do not, even though the political culture is almost similar in these four
states.
3.2 Various Stages of Enlargement
The process of enlargement of the European Union is usually a long and tough process, but in
the end, as mentioned above, it depends on the applying candidate state. The entire process is
divided broadly into three different stages for every applying state:

The first stage starts when a European state that is not a member of the European
Union applies for joining the union. The European Union decides by unanimity on
whether or not to grant candidate status to the applying state.

The second stage is the more comprehensive one. This is where the formal
negotiations for membership opens. Thirty-five chapters needs to be open, negotiated
26
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
and closed. Some of them are easily solved, even solved before negotiations have
started. Others, however, can be harder to solve and take longer negotiation period.
Croatia, for example, was blocked on chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights)
and 24 (Justice, freedom and security). Most applying states in the Western Balkans
faces problems on these two chapters because of the lack of respect for human rights
and anti-corruption law implementation.

The third and last stage involves closing the membership negotiations, signing the
accession agreement, receiving a formal date for joining the European Union and
becoming a member state31.
These three stages is for every applying state that wants to join the European Union.
However, there are further conditions and stages for the applying states in the Western
Balkans. The Western Balkans states received a promise during the European Council in
Thessaloniki 2003 that they would eventually join the European Union when the criteria were
fulfilled. “The future of the Balkans is within the European Union”, was the message from the
European Council. The Thessaloniki Declaration was signed at the European Union-Western
Balkans summit in 2003 in Thessaloniki. The seven countries from the Western Balkans that
are included in this declaration are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo32. Where do these seven
applying states stand ten years later, in 2013? The study “The European Future of the Western
Balkans: Thessaloniki at 10 (2003-2013)” analyses the development since the Thessaloniki
declaration was signed. One of the conclusions are the strong transformative power of the
European Union. Croatia is the strongest example of that, because they joined the European
Union on July 1st, 2013.
The first step in the European integration process towards full membership has for the
Western Balkans applying states been the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP). The
SAP has been the strongest tool and capability for the European Union to invest in post-
31
European Commission. Enlargement. Steps towards Joining. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/steps-towards-joining/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 8th, 2014).
32
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 13.
27
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
conflict stabilization, security and peace in the region33. There are three main aims with the
Stabilization and Association Process and these are:

Making sure the applying states are stabilized politically and can make the transfer to
market economy

Supporting and promoting regional cooperation

Moving together towards the long-term goal eventual membership in the European
Union34.
The seven states in the Western Balkans were offered the status “potential candidate state”,
which means that they were offered the prospect of eventually becoming a candidate state
when they were ready for it. The road towards applying and becoming an official candidate
state was the Stabilization and Association process. During the SAP, the seven states in the
Western Balkans committed to implement necessary reforms before they could apply for
membership and candidate status. All of the seven states in the Western Balkans faced
different difficult problems in the reform implementation process. For Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the biggest challenge was the police reform. Since the end of the Bosnian war in
1995, the Dayton Peace Accord Agreement has been the constitution of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. The Dayton agreement made it possible for the conflict to end and for Bosnia
and Herzegovina to initiate its post-war development period. The peace accord resulted in a
weak Bosnian central government, with two entities (one for the Bosnian muslims/Bosniaks
and Bosnian Croats and one for the Bosnian Serbs). The Bosniak/Croat entity is called
“Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, while the Bosnian Serb entity is called “Republika
Srpska”. The Bosnian state became much decentralized and this included the Bosnian police
force. The responsibility and the police authority was placed on entity level, which means that
the two entities, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, got their own
police force. The European Union identified this settlement as problematic and made the
demand of a unified police force as a criteria in the Stabilization and Association Process
when Bosnia and Herzegovina declared interest in joining the European Union35.The
33
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 14.
34
European Commission. Enlargement. Special Process for Western Balkans. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/steps-towards-joining/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 9th, 2014).
35
Padurariu, Amelia 2014 The Implementation of Police Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Analysing UN and
EU Efforts. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 3(1): 4, pp. 1-18, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.db (downloaded April 9th, 2014). Page 2
28
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
European Union took on a leading role in the police reform process in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and this marked the first engagement in crisis management from the European
Union side. By linking the police reform to the European integration process of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the European Union has made the issue politically and as one of the key
requirements. The ethnic divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the nationalistic political
parties with maximum claims during the negotiations has made it difficult to reach an
agreement on the police reform. Furthermore, political/party control over the police forces
continues to be a growing problem36. However, there have been progress in this process,
much with the support of the European Union Police Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina
(EUPM). Since 2002, Bosnia and Herzegovina has the State Information and Protection
Agency (SIPA) on state level. Their capabilities were strengthen in 2004, when SIPA received
investigating powers and became a policy agency. The new name was now the State
Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA). With support and assistance from the EUPM,
SIPA continued with the monitoring of criminal investigations in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
with mentoring and advising37. The Office of High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and
Herzegovina set up a Police Restructuring Commission that would reach a plan on a Bosnian
police reform. This Bosnian police reform would create a new, single police structure for the
entire country. There were financial, structural and political reasons to why this reform was
important. Bringing the number of police forces down to one for the entire state would make
the police force better financially manageable and it would make the police work against
organized crime in the entire country more effective. This plan was rejected by the political
leadership in the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska, they wanted to maintain the control over
their own police force38. However, steps towards unifying the Bosnian police forces were
taken in 2008 by the political leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following decisions and
laws were welcomed by the European Union and marked an important fulfillment by Bosnia
and Herzegovina of some of the criteria in the Stabilization and Association Process. In 2008,
the Bosnian political leaders agreed on new state-level structures and the formation of
36
Padurariu, Amelia 2014 The Implementation of Police Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Analysing UN and
EU Efforts. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 3(1): 4, pp. 1-18, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.db (downloaded April 9th, 2014). Page 3
37
Padurariu, Amelia 2014 The Implementation of Police Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Analysing UN and
EU Efforts. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 3(1): 4, pp. 1-18, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.db (downloaded April 9th, 2014). Page 8.
38
Padurariu, Amelia 2014 The Implementation of Police Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Analysing UN and
EU Efforts. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 3(1): 4, pp. 1-18, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.db (downloaded April 9th, 2014). Page 9.
29
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Directorate for Police Coordination Bodies (DPCB). Their main task was to provide the three
C’s among the police forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina; communication, cooperation and
coordination. DPCB was just one of many new Bosnian agencies on state level that had the
main task to bring the Bosnian police forces closer together in the country. Apart from these
agencies, the 2008 police laws also set up supporting bodies for the police forces in Bosnia
and Herzegovina. One them was an Independent Board that would select the chiefs of police
administrations in Bosnia and Herzegovina39. The police reform, as mentioned above, has
been the biggest obstacle for the Bosnian political leaders to overcome before they could
ratify the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union in June
2008. After implementing the above mentioned new police laws in April 2008, the European
Union immediately recommended the ratification of the SAA with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This master thesis is focusing on corruption and human rights. One of the main aims with the
police reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina is to give the police force much better capacity and
ability to act against corruption.
The inspiration for the Stabilization and Association Process came from the Eastern
enlargement. The ten new members that joined the European Union in 2004 (see above) were
offered “European Partnership” and “Accession Partnerships” in the 1990’s when they
declared membership in the European Union as the main goal in foreign policy40. The SAP is
leading the seven countries in the Western Balkans all the way towards membership in the
European Union. The commitments set out in the SAP needs to be met and fulfilled by the
applying states. To make sure this happens before joining the European Union, the European
Commission works closely with the applying states in the Western Balkans. The European
Commission also releases an annual progress report that shows how far or how well the
commitments are being met by the authorities in the applying states. The police reform in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, as mentioned above, have been an important part of the Bosnian
progress reports by the European Commission because this was a condition that the European
Union was not going to compromise on41. “Membership must be earned” and the principle of
conditionality was implemented into the Thessaloniki Declaration in 2003. This meant that
39
Padurariu, Amelia 2014 The Implementation of Police Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Analysing UN and
EU Efforts. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 3(1): 4, pp. 1-18, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.db (downloaded April 9th, 2014). Page 9.
40
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 15.
41
European Commission. Enlargement. Special process for Western Balkans. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/steps-towards-joining/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 9th, 2014).
30
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
the European Commission would help as much as they could with the reform process in the
applying state, but that the reforms must be agreed upon and implemented by the political
leaders in the applying state. Apart from the “regional perspective” on the entire Western
Balkans, the European Union would, in other words, also have an “individual perspective” on
each country in the region and would offer help and support to the ones lagging behind
compared to the forerunners. The conditionality principle in SAP and the Copenhagen criteria
meant that each country would join the European Union on their “own merits” once they were
ready and not in a big group enlargement such as the Eastern enlargement in 200442.
While Bosnia and Herzegovina has been struggling with the police reform before singing the
Stabilization and Association Agreement in 2008, their neighbor Serbia’s main difficulties in
fulfilling the commitments from the SAP has been the cooperation with the ICTY
(International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia) in Hague, Netherlands. Cooperation with the
ICTY is a condition for each and every of the former Yugoslav republics, but it has been extra
difficult for the Serbian authorities to fulfill the cooperation. This issue must be seen from a
wider political perspective. When the negotiations on the status of Kosovo was in the final
period in 2007, a media report revealed that the capture of General Ratko Mladic was a
political issue and not a technical. It was said that Mladic was being kept by the Serbian
government as a bargaining chip as the developments on Kosovo and membership in the
European Union went on43. Ratko Mladic was eventually captured in 2011 and transported to
the ICTY in Hague. Full cooperation with the ICTY is still a demand from the European
Union on Serbia and the other former Yugoslav republics. European Union principle of
conditionality and how it has been practiced during the time Ratko Mladic was in freedom has
been criticized. Many believe that the principle of conditionality in the case of full
cooperation with the ICTY has weaken as the negotiations on the status of Kosovo has been
developing. However, Serbia could not move forward towards receiving candidate status until
full cooperation with ICTY was established. The European Union did not back down from
this condition44. “The Copenhagen Plus criteria” are additional criteria for the Western Balkan
states, where strong cooperation with the ICTY is important. But the Plus criteria also put
42
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 15.
43
Braniff, Máire. Integrating the Balkans: Conflict Resolution and the Impact of EU Expansion. Palgrave
Macmillan. 2011. Page 136.
44
Braniff, Máire. Integrating the Balkans: Conflict Resolution and the Impact of EU Expansion. Palgrave
Macmillan. 2011. Page 137.
31
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
regional cooperation (see below) and respect for democratic principles as strong conditions.
There is also the “good governance” criteria – rule of law, independent judiciary, efficient
public administration, the fight against corruption and organized crime, media freedom and so
on45.
The Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) also encourages regional cooperation in the
Western Balkans. This needs to be seen from a historical perspective. The establishment of
the European Economic Community (EEC) through the Treaty of Rome in 1957 was a
consequence of European states realizing that economic cooperation (and later on also
political) was going to guarantee the European peace and stability. This is why the European
Union today is often called “the Peace project”, because it unified Europe into a more
peaceful era after 1945. The EEC eventually changed its name to the European Community
(EC) and, through the Maastricht Treaty, to the European Union (EU) in 1993. From this
background, the European Union is now trying to promote the same stability and security to
the Western Balkans by having regional cooperation as a condition for further European
integration and in the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP)46.
Another important part of the SAP is the financial assistance that the process offers.
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) was launched in 2007 and received a budget on
€ 11.5 billion for the period 2007-2013. IPA 2 (2014-2020) will have a budget on € 11.7
billion. The main purpose of the IPA is to help the applying states in the Western Balkans
with the reform process financially. IPA covers public administration reforms, rule of law,
sustainable economy, agricultural and rural development etc47. The funding through IPA can
be suspended if the European Commission identifies a lack of reform process in the annual
progress reports.
The European Commission started applying a new method in the enlargement process,
following the experience with the Croatian negotiating on membership. The second stage (see
above) includes negotiating 35 chapters. All of these 35 chapters need to be opened,
negotiated and closed before the applying candidate state can join. Most of these chapters are
45
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 21.
46
European Commission. Enlargement. Regional Cooperation. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/glossary/terms/regional-cooperation_en.htm (Downloaded: April 9th,
2014).
47
European Commission. Enlargement. Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/instruments/overview/index_en.htm (Downloaded: April 9th, 2014).
32
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
completed and closed quickly, while some few are complicated. These complicated ones often
demand much wider and bigger reforms from the candidate state and it often takes longer time
before they are implemented and start showing concrete results. For the most recent
enlargements (Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia), it was chapter 23 and 24 that demanded most
work and delayed membership. Chapter 23 is about judiciary and fundamental rights and
Chapter 24 is about justice, freedom and security48. In order for the European Union and for
the applying states to avoid these problems in the negotiation process in future enlargements,
the European Union has moved on with a new method. The European Commission is now
focusing on, for example, chapter 23 and 24 much earlier than the actual negotiations start
with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since June 2011, the European Commission is in a Structured
Dialogue on Justice with the Bosnian authorities. This involves helping Bosnia and
Herzegovina to solve the issues related to chapter 23 and 24 now so that they do not block the
membership later on when the negotiation process starts. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still in
the Stabilization and Association Process because they have not applied for candidate status
and membership in the European Union yet49.
The Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) is offered to all the states in the Western
Balkans that are going through the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP). The amount
of times it takes for the different Western Balkans state to complete the negotiations on a
Stabilization and Association Agreement and ratify it varies between the different states in the
region. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Croatia were the first two states to
start the negotiations on a SAA. For the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the
negotiations started in April 2000 and lasted for four years. Once all the conditions have been
met and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had fulfilled the commitments in the SAP,
the SAA was signed by the European Union in February 2004 and the SAA entry came into
force on April 1st, 200450. However, the Stabilization and Association Process was longer for
some of the other states in the region that started negotiating after Former Yugoslav Republic
48
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 21-22.
49
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 22.
50
Council of the European Union. Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities
and their Member States, of the one part, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, of the other part.
URL: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/policies/agreements/search-the
agreementsdatabase?lang=en&command=details&id=297&lang=en&aid=2001014&doclang=en (downloaded:
April 9th, 2014).
33
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
of Macedonia. Montenegro started negotiations on a Stabilization and Association Agreement
in October 2005, but the SAA didn’t come into force until May 1st, 2010. For Serbia, it took
eight years (2005-2013) and Bosnia and Herzegovina has not a SAA into force yet because of
the lack of important reforms that the Stabilization and Association Process demands.
When a European state wants to join the European Union it needs to send a formal
application. For the states in the Western Balkans, this is not possible if the Stabilization and
Association Process is still going on and the Stabilization and Association Agreement has not
yet been set into force by the European Union. Before the SAA can come into force, it needs
to be ratified by the applying state and by all the member states national parliaments. During
this period of the European integration process, the country is still a potential candidate state
for membership in the European Union. When the SAA has been ratified by all the member
states national parliaments and by the European Union institutions (the Commission, the
Parliament and the European Council), the potential candidate state can apply for membership
and official candidate status. When the European Union approves the application for
membership and gives official candidate status, it is time for the much more demanding part
of the enlargement process – the formal negotiations on membership. Before formal
negotiations can start, the European Council needs to approve the new candidate state for
negotiations on membership in the European Union. This decision needs to be taken
unanimously. The European Council agrees on a mandate and legal framework for the
membership negotiations with the candidate state. These negotiations take place in
intergovernmental conferences between the national governments of the European Union
member states and the candidate state government. Before the negotiations can start, the so
called “opening benchmarks” must be met. The European Commission caries out an
examination on how well the candidate state fulfills the 35 negotiation chapters before the
negotiations starts. The results from this examination are then delivered to the European
Council, with a recommendation from the European Commission on to either open the
negotiations with the candidate state or to wait until further conditions have been fulfilled51.
Before the negotiations can start, it is also important for the European Union to decide on
“closing benchmarks” for most negotiation chapters. These are conditions that must be
fulfilled before the chapter closes. The European Union needs to adopt a common position
and the candidate state must submit a negotiation position before the process starts. Chapter
51
European Commission. Enlargement. Membership Negotiations. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/steps-towards-joining/index_en.htm (Downloaded: April 9th, 2014).
34
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
23 and 24 tend to be more complicated to negotiate (see above) and that is why the European
Union is considering a new strategy for these two chapters. That includes opening them on
basis level with action plans, much earlier in the European integration process52. Most recent
example of this process is Serbia. In the end of 2013, the European Council adopted the legal
framework for negotiations on membership with Serbia that would be open in January 2014.
This means that the European Union finalized their negotiation positions and the closing
benchmarks for the chapters in the negotiation process. The first intergovernmental
conference between the Serbian government and the governments of the European Union
member states were held on January 21st, 201453.
Before a negotiation chapter can be closed, every member state of the European Union needs
to be satisfied with the candidate’s process in that specific policy field. In other words, closing
the negotiation chapters is done with unanimity by the European Union and one single
member state can block a chapter until it’s satisfied. The entire negotiation process is not over
until every chapter has been closed. Just like with the Stabilization and Association Process,
the negotiation process can take different amount of time for different candidate states.
Croatia opened negotiations in 2005, closed all the chapters in 2012 and joined in 2013.
Turkey also opened the negotiations in 2005, however, they have not closed all the chapters
yet. Some of the chapters are even frozen because of the conflict with another member state of
the European Union, Cyprus. Other reasons are dealing more with Turkish internal issues,
such as minority rights, democratic principles and rule of law. There are also cases such as
Hungary, where the candidate state fulfills all the conditions in the negotiation chapters, joins
the European Union, but then turns the development in the country towards a questionable
way, implementing policies that goes even against the Copenhagen enlargement criteria. More
about Hungary on this topic can be found further down in this thesis.
The Turkish-Cypriot relations, as mentioned above, are only one of many issues that have
disturbed or are still disturbing the European integration process for the European Union and
for an applying candidate state. Bilateral issues between an applying state and a state that is
already a member of the European Union have been seen in most cases, in the Western
Balkans. The name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
52
European Commission. Enlargement. Membership Negotiations. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/steps-towards-joining/index_en.htm (Downloaded: April 9th, 2014).
53
European Commission. Enlargement. Serbia. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/countries/detailedcountry-information/serbia/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 9th, 2014).
35
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
is the longest running bilateral issue between a member state and an applying state. The
European Commission has been recommending the start of membership negotiations with the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ever since 2009. However, the member states have
blocked these recommendations since then, most often by only Greece, but the Greek side
was backed up by Bulgaria and France in 201254. The name dispute between Greece and the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been an issue ever since the break-up of
Yugoslavia. This has created difficulties for both Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia in international relations. In 2007, the Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis
warned that Greece would not approve of a Macedonian application for membership in the
European Union if the name dispute was not solved before that happened55. The Greek
government kept this promise and is still blocking the Macedonian application for
membership in the European Union. Active negotiations since 2007 have been taking place
and proposals for solving the name issue have been recommended, such as “New Republic of
Macedonia” and “Republic of Upper Macedonia”. However, the issue still remains unsolved
and the Greek government is still blocking the start of the accession talks between the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the European Union.
Unlike the name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
other bilateral issues between a candidate state and a member state have been easier to solve
for the European Union. In 2008, Slovenia blocked several negotiations chapters for Croatia
because of border issues in the Adriatic Sea. Slovenia decided, after a referendum, to unblock
the Croatian membership negotiations and instead solve the border issue between Slovenia
and Croatia through international arbitration. The border issue between Slovenia and Croatia
concerns the Bay of Piran, a small body of water in the northern parts of the Adriatic Sea.
Both Croatia and Slovenia claims ownership of the bay. The two former Yugoslav republics
have different reasons and interests in why the bay is important to them. For Slovenia, the
reasons are mainly of economic nature. The Bay of Piran makes it possible for Slovenia to
have an access to international waters, which makes it easier for Slovenian trading with the
outside world. The Slovenian economy and in particular the shipping industry is dependent on
54
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 23.
55
Ta Nea, Vima. Karamanlis: Greece to Veto Macedonia’s EU, NATO Bids if Name Issue Not Resolved.
Southeasten Times. September 7th, 2007. URL:
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2007/09/07/nb-06
(downloaded: April 14th, 2014).
36
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
this. For Croatia, the concerns are of another nature. The Bay of Piran makes sure Croatia has
a direct maritime border with Italy, which they do not want to give up. On several occasions
there have been provocations between Croatia and Slovenia by both sides on the issue of Bay
of Piran. For example, Croatia sent special forces to the bay in 2005 after Slovenia declared
an ecological and continental shelf belt. Croatia saw this as a violation against Croatian
territory56. Another issue between Slovenia and Croatia that threatened to block the Croatian
membership just a couple of years ago was the row over the former Ljubljanska Banka (Bank
of Ljubljana). Croatia had closed all the membership negotiation chapters and needed all the
member states national parliaments of the European Union to ratify the accession treaty. The
Slovenian parliament threatened to block the ratification. This was avoided because the two
parties, Croatia and Slovenia, managed to solve this issue57.
For Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the bilateral issues have been limited and in most
cases not involving a member state of the European Union. The European integration process
for Serbia has mostly been blocked by some member states of the European Union when they
notice that the Serbian authorities have not reached enough in their cooperation with the
International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) in Hague. For Bosnia and
Herzegovina, the progress have been blocked mostly because of internal Bosnian issues and
the lack of cooperation and agreement between the different political parties in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. In the case of Serbia, the issue of Kosovo has also been used as a condition for
further European integration. Germany, and recently joined by the United Kingdom, are the
two leading member states in the European Union that insists on continuing negotiations and
concrete results before any further steps towards membership can be taken by Serbia. Since
2013, the European Union has therefore upgraded its approach towards the Western Balkans
and the different issues they are facing in their European integration process. One of the new
strategies from the European Union has been the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, where the
delegations from Kosovo and Serbia have regular meetings in Brussels and try to reach
agreement on issues blocking these two countries in international relations58. The European
Union wants to make sure, with this new strategy, that future enlargements do not fall victims
56
Alic, Anes. Slovenia, Croatia, the EU and Piran Bay. The International Relations and Security Network.
Published: May 23rd, 2007. URL: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/Digital-Library/Articles/Detail/?id=53176
(downloaded: April 14th, 2014).
57
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 23.
58
Prifti, Eviola. The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki10 (2003-2013). European Union
Institute for Security Studies. Page 23-24.
37
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
to bilateral issues, either they be from inside or outside the union. It is also at the heart of the
functioning of the principle of conditionality that the European Union has applied on the
Western Balkans ever since the singing of the Thessaloniki Declaration in 2003.
Ever since the Thessaloniki Declaration was signed in 2003 and the integration process was
set out for the states in the Western Balkans, the visa liberalization process has been an
important parallel process alongside the enlargement process. The principle of conditionality
from the European Union has been used in the visa liberalization process as well. Just like
with the membership negotiation process, the visa liberalization process consists of a road
map towards visa liberalization. This road map includes conditions and criteria that must be
fulfilled before a candidate state or a potential candidate state in the Western Balkans can sign
the agreement on visa liberalization with the Schengen agreement states of the European
Union. The Road Map puts a demand on the candidate state to fulfill important criteria in the
policy areas of document security, prevention and combating organized crime and corruption,
human rights, minority rights, migration management. The introduction of biometric passports
has been one of the obstacles for the Western Balkans countries to overcome before receiving
visa liberalization agreement with the European Union. The production and the issuing of
biometric passport was in particular interesting for the European Commission when they have
their recommendations on how the aspiring countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia,
Montenegro, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo) for visa
liberalization were doing. The Road Map and the negotiations on visa liberalization were
launched in May 2008. From the very beginning, the applying states were on different levels
concerning the issuing of the biometric passports. Serbia, Montenegro and Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia were far better in issuing the new biometric passports, with the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia having already been doing that since April 2007.
This is one of the main reasons why the visa liberalization happened in two waves. The first
one being in the end of 2009, when Serbia, Montenegro and Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia signed visa liberalization agreements with the Schengen states in the European
Union. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania were in the second wave and received visa
liberalization one year later, in the end of 2010. Kosovo is still negotiating its Road Map.
However, Kosovo started their negotiations much later than the other mentioned states in the
38
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Western Balkans59. Why are the biometric passports and other documents important for the
liberalization of visas? The speed of the entire process indicates the political will in the
leadership of the applying state on how much they are ready to do for joining “the visa
liberalization zone” and in the long-run also the European Union. The right to open borders
without much problems (such as visas) for travelling is something that the former Yugoslav
states and their citizens are used to from the old days when Yugoslavia existed. This topic is
important for the citizens to once again restore the free movement that they once had and visa
liberalization is an important step in the right direction. Furthermore, the issuing of biometric
passports also shows the level of compliance the applying state and the government has
towards the security policy and standards of the European Union. The travel documents, such
as biometric passports, must meet the criteria that the European Union has set out on
satisfactory quality and they must guarantee the lowest level of abuse60. The issuing of the
biometric passports is just another example of the principle of conditionality that the
European Union applies in the European integration process for applying states.
Another important criteria for visa liberalization with the European Union is combating and
prohibiting corruption. This criteria remains important through the entire enlargement
process. Chapters 23 and 24 during the negotiations that deals with the topics rule of law,
justice system and anti-corruption laws has more than often been more difficult to negotiate
and to close than all the other chapters, as mentioned above. Corruption has been one of the
main challenges for the applying states in the Western Balkans during the enlargement
process, and that is still the case. Economic and political sustainability is threatened in a
society where corruption is widespread. This can create serious political tensions and a ruined
political culture, where the citizens lose interests in involving in the democratic process (such
as elections) of a society61. All the states in the Western Balkans are dependent on a high level
of economic development since the 1990’s wars ended. The fight against corruption remains
an important part for the policy-makers in these states, otherwise the economy will suffer
from the consequences of widespread corruption. Combating and preventing corruption for
the Western Balkans states remains a challenge. Recently the focus has been on combating
59
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 31.
60
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 31-32.
61
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 50.
39
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
new corruption cases, which has put the already existing corruption cases aside. The reason
behind this is believed to be in the legislation of the Western Balkans states. New laws and
strategies have been adopted in the field of anti-corruption policy. Mechanisms, task forces
and coordination have been established for better and more efficient combating and
preventing corruption62. In the Western Balkans states, a huge number of corruption cases
have not been brought under justice because there’s a lack of political willingness and
institutional readiness. Instead, the focus has been on strengthening the institutional capacities
against corruption in order to prevent future cases63. The European Union relies on
international cooperation between states. That is why the cooperation with the United Nations
and the international conventions that are signed on the global level is important for the
European Union to respect and uphold. In the policy area of anti-corruption laws, the
European Union makes sure the Western Balkans states have signed and are upholding the
United Nations Convention against Corruption. When the European Commission presents the
annual progress reports, the international conventions and obligations taken by the applying
states are always considered. The UN Convention against Corruption covers four different
areas within combating corruption.
1) Prevention. This part of the convention sets out what kind of preventing measures can
and must be taken in order to prevent corruption in public and private sector.
Efficiency, transparency and recruitment based on merit must be guaranteed by the
public agencies. The government must introduce preventive policies, such as
establishing anticorruption bodies and strengthening the transparency over financing
of election campaigns and political parties. The prevention part of this convention also
covers the individual. Once elected, the public servant must be under codes of
conduct, requirements for financial and other disclosure and appropriate disciplinary
measures64. These are just some of the preventing measures that can be taken in order
to prevent corruption.
2) Criminalization. This part of the convention requires countries to adopt laws in a wide
range that will criminalize acts of corruption. In some cases, states are obliged to
62
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 52.
63
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 52.
64
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. United Nations Convention against Corruption. URL:
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/convention-highlights.html (downloaded: April 15th, 2014)
40
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
adopt and establish offences. In other cases, where states cannot do so, they are
required to consider adopting and criminalizing different acts of corruption. This latter
part has been included in order for the United Nations to respect the differences in
legislation between the member states. The criminalization part of this Convention
covers a wide-range of topics within corruption that are supposed to be criminalized
by the member state. It’s all from basic forms of corruption (such as bribery and
embezzlement) to more advanced forms of corruption (such as trading in influence
and laundering of the proceeds of corruption)65.
3) International cooperation. When singing this Convention, states agree on cooperating
with each other in the fight against corruption and this includes prevention,
investigation and prosecution of offenders. Mutual legal assistance is one of the main
important parts in this chapter. States are bound by the Convention to gather and
transfer evidence that will be used in court. The countries that have ratified the
Convention are also obliged to trace, freeze, seize and confiscate the proceeds of
corruption66.
4) Asset recovery. This is one of the fundamental principles of the Convention. In major
breakthrough, the ratifying states have agreed on asset-recovery. This means, for
example, that any public fund that has been plundered by corrupt measures of public
officials must be recovered. Asset-recovery is important for many of the developing
countries, where the corruption level in the public sector is usually higher. Resources
that are needed for reconstruction and rehabilitation under new governments mostly
disappear in corruption, which is why this part of the Convention is extra important for
the developing states. How does it work? The state requesting the confiscated property
should have the right to ownership over it. Proof of ownership from the requesting
state is a condition before the property returns. In other cases, it’s compensation for
the victims and returning the property to the prior legitimate owners. This part of the
Convention has been more sensitive and more difficult to agree upon during the
negotiations67.
65
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. United Nations Convention against Corruption. URL:
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/convention-highlights.html (downloaded: April 15th, 2014)
66
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. United Nations Convention against Corruption. URL:
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/convention-highlights.html (downloaded: April 15th, 2014)
67
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. United Nations Convention against Corruption. URL:
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/convention-highlights.html (downloaded: April 15th, 2014)
41
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
The UN Convention against Corruption came into force on December 14th, 2005. 171 parties
around the world have signed it, including the European Union68. All the Western Balkans
applying candidate states for membership in the European Union have signed it. The
European Commission uses this convention in their annual progress reports when making
recommendations on how progress is going in the fight against corruption.
Human rights and especially minority rights are also important conditions from the visa
liberalization Road map. These conditions are based on the Article 13 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
“(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone
has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” (Article 13, Universal
Declaration of Human Rights)69
These conditions are strengthen and supported by the European Convention on Human
Rights, which says:
“(3) No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise of these rights other than such as are in accordance with law
and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the
maintenance of public order, for the prevention of crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the
protection of the rights and freedoms of others. (4) The rights set forth in paragraph 1 may also be subject, in
particular areas, to restrictions imposed in accordance with law and justified by the public interest in a
democratic society” (European Declaration on Human Rights) 70
One of the main difficulties and challenges for Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other
Western Balkans states are socioeconomic problems that keeps the minority groups from
having the possibility to pursue freedom of movement as guaranteed by the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights. If the goal is universal freedom of movement, these
socioeconomic problems and challenges of the minority groups must be addressed by the
authorities in the Western Balkans states. One of the minority groups that are dominating in
this field is the Roma minority, especially in the cases of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The inclusion of Roma in the society in the Western Balkans have been at the heart of the
European Commission reports when looking at human rights and protection of minority
68
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. United Nations Convention against Corruption. URL:
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/signatories.html (downloaded: April 15th, 2014)
69
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 63.
70
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 63-64.
42
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
rights. It is necessary to, among other, establish better living conditions for the Roma
minority. This is however limited by the lack of political willingness to act on this issue and
the involvement of each individual state71. More on the situation on human rights and the
protection of minority groups later in this thesis.
In conclusion, the visa liberalization process is divided into four different stages. These are
Visa facilitation/Readmission Agreements, Visa liberalization dialogues, Roadmaps for visa
liberalization and Final visa liberalization72. Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro,
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania have already finalized the visa
liberalization process and their citizens are free to travel in the Schengen states without visas.
Kosovo is currently negotiating and is in the process of visa liberalization.
The enlargement process for the Western Balkans have been and still is a challenge for both
the European Union and the applying candidate states in the Western Balkans. Croatia
managed to fulfill the entire process within approximately 12 years, from the date they started
negotiations within the Stabilization and Association Process to the date their accession treaty
was signed by all of the member states national parliaments. The ratification of the accession
treaty is the final step towards full membership and it comes after all the negotiation chapters
have been closed. The accession treaty is not final and binding until it wins the approval of
the Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, signed by the candidate
state and the member states and finally ratified by the candidate state and the member states,
either through parliamentary votes or referendums73. Croatia held a referendum in December
2012, confirming a majority in the country saying yes to membership in the European Union.
After the ratification of the treaty, the candidate state becomes an acceding state and
eventually joins the European Union on the date that has been agreed upon in the accession
treaty.
This chapter has now examined the enlargement process and the enlargement criteria from a
wider and general perspective. It has also examined some of the difficulties the different
71
Muja, Armend. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans: A Comparative Assessment.
Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS). 2013. Page 64.
72
Denti, Davide. The Process of EU Visa Liberalization for the Western Balkans. Academia. College of Europe.
March 7th, 2011. URL:
http://www.academia.edu/1682633/The_process_of_EU_Visa_liberalisation_for_the_Western_Balkans
(downloaded: April 15th, 2014).
73
European Commission. Enlargement. Membership Negotiations. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/steps-towards-joining/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 15th, 2014).
43
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
candidate or potential candidate states are facing in the Western Balkans in their European
integration process. One major difference between the candidate states in the Western Balkans
and the former candidate states in East Europe that joined in 2004 and 2007 is that the
Western Balkans have a special process before receiving candidate status. This process is
called the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP). Something similar was offered to the
East European states that joined in 2004 and 2007, but groups in smaller size were formed.
The Visegrad group was formed between Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in
1991. These four countries identified similar interests after the fall of the Iron Curtain and
communism in East Europe – they all wanted to work on one becoming members of the
European Union. European integration became the common goal and the common interest. In
order to reach this goal, they decided to cooperate in different important political and
economic fields74. In the following chapter, this thesis will focus on one of these four
Visegrad Group states – Hungary. The other three states that will be used in the next chapter
are Romania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hungary joined the European Union in
2004 and Romania did the same in 2007. How well did they fulfill the Copenhagen criteria on
human rights and fighting corruption back then and how well are they fulfilling this criteria
today? How much is the European Commission and the others in the European Union, that are
monitoring the European integration process for these states, actually ready to compromise on
the criteria, if at all? These are the questions that the next chapter will focus on. Serbia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina will also be examined from the human rights and fighting corruption
perspective and then compared with Hungary and Romania.
74
Visegrad Group. About the Visegrad Group. URL: http://www.visegradgroup.eu/about (downloaded: April
15th, 2014).
44
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
3.5 Bosnia and Herzegovina in the enlargement process
3.5.1 Bosnian and Herzegovinian enlargement process in general
Bosnia and Herzegovina started its path towards membership in the European Union in 2003,
with the signing of the Thessaloniki Declaration. In this declaration, the European Council
promised future membership for the Western Balkans states once they have fulfilled the
necessary Copenhagen criteria. One of the main aims with enlargement to the Western
Balkans was said to be creating peace and stability in a region devastated by the 1990’s
Yugoslav wars. European integration was going to ensure political and economic stability for
a region that has been dominated by both political and economic depression. Bosnia and
Herzegovina is no exception. With the Thessaloniki Declaration, the Western Balkans states
received the status “potential candidate states”. Important to notice here that this is not the
same thing as “candidate states”. Before the potential candidate state can become an official
candidate state it needs to fulfill its commitments from the Stabilization and Association
Process (see above) and apply for membership in the European Union. For Bosnia and
45
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Herzegovina, the Stabilization and Association Process has been difficult to finalize. This
process is finalized when the Stabilization and Association Agreement enters into force.
Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified this agreement in 2008, however because of internal political
issues, most of them with underlying ethnic tensions, the weak central government has not
been able to adopt all the necessary European Union laws in order for the agreement to enter
into force. The political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to block the European
integration process for the entire country. The negotiations on a Stabilization and Association
Agreement started in November 2005. As soon as the signed agreement enters into force,
Bosnia and Herzegovina can send a formal application for membership, after which the
European Commission will recommend on whether or not it will be approved. If approved,
Bosnia and Herzegovina will receive official “candidate status” and will therefore receive
more in economic support for its reforms that are necessary in further steps in the European
integration process. Since 2010, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoy visa free travels to
the Schengen states of European Union75.
One of the main political difficulties for Bosnia and Herzegovina to overcome has been how
to implement the so called “Sejdic-Finci”-case. Since the end of the Bosnian war in 1995 and
the singing of the Dayton Peace Accord in Dayton, Ohio (United States of America), the
Dayton agreement has been the Bosnian constitution. In Article IV of the Bosnian constitution
(Dayton agreement) the functioning of the parliamentary assembly is being regulated. The
Bosnian parliamentary assembly consists of two houses – first and second house. The first
house, the House of Representatives, consists of 42 members, directly elected by the citizens
of Bosnia and Herzegovina in regular elections every fourth year. 14 out of 42 are from the
Bosnian-Serb entity Republika Srpska, while the other 28 are from the Bosniak-Croat entity
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The second house is the House of Peoples in the
parliamentary assembly. The House of Peoples consists of 15 delegates, 10 from the entity
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (5 must be Bosniak and 5 must be Croat), while the
other 5 must be from the entity Republika Srpska and they must all be Serbs. The Bosnian
presidency is regulated in Article V of the Dayton Agreement/Bosnian Constitution. Article V
says that the Bosnian presidency consists of three members – one Bosniak, one Croat and one
Serb. Two of them, the Bosniak and the Croat member, are elected in the entity Federation of
75
European Commission. Enlargement – Bosnia and Herzegovina. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/countries/detailed-country-information/bosnia-herzegovina/index_en.htm
(downloaded: April 17th, 2014).
46
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of them, the Serb member, is elected in the entity Republika
Srpska. All three of them are elected through direct democratic elections every fourth year76.
This is what the “Sejdic-Finci”-case is about – the discriminatory election system of the
Bosnian presidency and of the Bosnian House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly.
Dervo Sejdic and Jakob Finci are two citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas Dervo
Sejdic belongs to the Roma minority and Jakob Finci belongs to the Jewish minority of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of Sejdic-Finci
in 2009 and thereby declared the Bosnian constitution as discriminatory towards other ethnic
groups that do not belong to the “constituent peoples” (Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs) in the
election system for the Presidency and the House of Peoples. According to the Bosnian
constitution, there are “constituent peoples” and “others” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
European Court of Human Rights declares the violation of Article 14 (prohibition of
discrimination) off the European Convention on Human Rights, along with Article 3 (right to
free elections) and general prohibition of discrimination in Article 1. Sejdic and Finci won the
case against the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This has led to pressure on the political elite
of Bosnia and Herzegovina to change the constitution and make it possible for all of the
Bosnian citizens to get elected for high-level official positions, including the Presidency and
the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary assembly77. Since the verdict was delivered in
2009, the European Union has also put pressure on the Bosnian politicians to make the
constitutional changes that are necessary in order to fulfill the verdict from the European
Court of Human Rights. The “Sejdic-Finci”-case is thereby a condition for Bosnia and
Herzegovina in the European integration process. It is also the main challenge to overcome
before the Stabilization and Association Agreement can enter into force and Bosnia and
Herzegovina can apply for membership and official candidate status.
3.5.2 Human rights
The European Commission releases annual progress reports on all the candidate and potential
candidate states in the Western Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina is included in this. Respect
for human rights and protection of minority rights are one of the basic criteria in the
Copenhagen political criteria. It is thereby also included in every annual progress report that
76
Office of the High Representative. Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Article IV and Article V. URL:
http://www.ohr.int/dpa/?content_id=372 (downloaded: April 17th, 2014).
77
Council of Europe Office in Belgrade. Sejdic and Finci V. Bosnia and Herzegovina. URL:
http://www.coe.org.rs/eng/news_sr_eng/?conid=1545 (downloaded: April 17th, 2014).
47
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
the European Commission releases. Ten years since the singing of the Thessaloniki
Declaration, one of the conclusions on Bosnia and Herzegovina are that political and ethnic
tensions continue to slow down the democratization process and also the European integration
process, once the Copenhagen political criteria are not being fulfilled. This may also explain
why Bosnia and Herzegovina is lacking behind in the enlargement process, compared to
similar neighboring states that have a completely different political system and ethnic map78.
The European Commission concludes that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made limited progress
in fulfilling the political criteria. The Sejdic-Finci case (see above) has still not been
implemented and the Bosnian constitution is still discriminatory against the minorities in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Commission also points out the slow legislative process in the
Bosnian parliamentary assembly. The Entity veto right has been used more than often to block
important reforms that are necessary for further European integration, some of them also
necessary for the implementation of the Sejdic-Finci case. There’s a lack of political will to
compromise among the leaders of the parties in the Bosnian parliament, which has caused
blocking in several important political and economic reforms. When it comes to human rights
instruments, the implementation of these has also been limited. The European Commission
especially points out the problem with lack of implementation of necessary laws that would
give protection to LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) persons from hate
speech and violence, and also the implementation of Roma action plans79. Bosnia and
Herzegovina has ratified all major international human rights instruments, including UN and
international human rights conventions. The legal framework for prevention of torture and illtreatment has been adopted, however, the progress report shows that ill-treatment by some
police forces, especially by the local ones in Banja Luka, is still a problem where the police
tries to force out a confession by using unnecessary violence brutality. The Bosnian
parliament has set up and adopted an anti-discrimination law, however, age and disability are
not included in this law as grounds on which discrimination should be prohibited. The
protection of minority rights is still a wide challenge for the Bosnian authorities on state,
entity and local level. The Roma strategy has been implemented. This strategy includes action
78
Balfour, Rosa. Stratulat, Corina. Democratising the Western Balkans: Where Does the Region Stand?. Chapter
in The European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki 10 (2003-2013). European Union Institute for
Security Studies. 2013. Page 31-33.
79
The European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/bosnia_and_herzegovina_20
13.pdf (downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 2.
48
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
plans in four different areas – health, employment, housing and education. However, the
inclusion of the Roma minority in the Bosnian society continues to be very low and domestic
violence and discrimination is still widespread against Roma children and women. The Roma
minority overall continues to live under very vulnerable conditions80. In conclusion, the
biggest challenges for the Bosnian authorities to overcome in the field of human rights and the
protection of minorities are, just like for Romania and Hungary, the protection and
strengthening Roma rights and especially combating discrimination and violence against
minorities.
3.5.3 Corruption
One of the major challenges in the European integration process continues to be combating
and preventing corruption for the Western Balkans states. The Croatian enlargement process
has been blocked for several years because of the lack of anti-corruption laws and the lack of
implementing these, even though international NGOs (such as Transparency International)
has pointed out that Croatia is doing better in combating corruption than some member states
of the European Union (such as Romania and Bulgaria). For Bosnia and Herzegovina,
corruption continues to be a widespread and serious challenge. Corruption continues to harm
the Bosnian economy as it’s deeply rooted in some parts of the public sector and also in the
private sector. This has made the country less attractive for foreign investors that are needed
in order for new jobs and the economy to recover. According to the latest progress report from
the European Commission, corruption is still hard to detect because the political actors,
business and the media is putting democratic institutions at risk. Some limited progress has
been made lately in Bosnia and Herzegovina in combating and preventing corruption, such as
the adoption of a new law regulating the financing of political parties and various
amendments to the Law on the Agency for Prevention of Corruption81. When it comes to
effective investigation, prosecution and conviction of high-level corruption in the public
administration, the overall level remains low. Several of the 3 174 filed reports on corruption
in public sector in 2012 are still pending and the number of convictions are still at a very low
80
The European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/bosnia_and_herzegovina_20
13.pdf (downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 15-20.
81
The European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/bosnia_and_herzegovina_20
13.pdf (downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 14.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
level. The European Commission concludes, however, that Bosnia and Herzegovina is still at
an early stage in combating and preventing corruption. Limited progress have been made in
this area, but corruption remains widespread in the Bosnian society82. Bosnia and
Herzegovina is included in The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index and
that is one of the most effective tools in order to look at and compare different countries in
their anti-corruption progress over the years. These are the results of Bosnia and Herzegovina
in the Corruption Perceptions Index of 2003, 2007 and 2013:
Year
Place in the CPI
Score in the CPI
2003
70th
3.3 / 10
2007
84th
3.3 / 10
2013
72nd
4.2 / 10 (42 / 100)
The table above shows that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made little progress in combating
and preventing corruption if compared with the Hungarian last year before accession (2003)
and Romanian year of accession (2007)83. A more detailed comparison can be found in the
analysis part of this thesis. However, one interested thing that has been noted in the CPI 2013
is that Bosnia and Herzegovina scored better than some member states of the European Union
(Bulgaria and Greece) and is on the same level as the candidate state Serbia.
3.6 Serbia in the enlargement process
3.6.1 Serbian enlargement process in general
The Serbian integration process towards membership in the European Union has met
challenges, just like the Bosnian and the others in the Western Balkans. However, these
challenges have been more from the regional cooperation perspective and especially when it
82
The European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/bosnia_and_herzegovina_20
13.pdf (downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 14-15.
83
Transparency International. Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. URL:
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/ (downloaded: April 18th, 2014).
50
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
comes to Kosovo, where the Serbian government is still not sure how to form the diplomatic
relations. One of the main criteria for membership in the European Union set out in the
Thessaloniki Declaration and in the Copenhagen criteria package is regional cooperation
among peoples and states. This is extra important for the Western Balkans, a region that has
been dominated by war, conflict and destruction between peoples and states because of, to say
the least, lack of good relations during the 1990’s. Compared to the 1990’s, there has been an
improvement, but there are still things to do and areas in which the cooperation can improve.
For Serbia, the European integration process started with the signing of the Thessaloniki
Declaration, just like for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other Western Balkans states. In the
case of Serbia, this process started while they still were in a union with neighboring
Montenegro (Serbia and Montenegro) in 2005, with the Stabilization and Association Process.
After the separation between Serbia and Montenegro into two individual states, Serbia
continued the European integration process individually and so did Montenegro. One of the
main obstacles for Serbia to overcome has for a very long time been full cooperation with the
International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the United Nations court in
Hague, Netherlands. For lacking cooperation with the ICTY, the European Commission
proposed and the European Council approved of total freezing of the negotiations on a
Stabilization and Association Agreement for Serbia in 2006. For a long time in the beginning,
Serbia was last in line on the path towards membership because of these difficulties84.
However, in 2007, the negotiations on a Stabilization and Association Agreement resumed
after Serbia commits to full cooperation with the ICTY. One of the biggest suspected war
criminals were still not captured (former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic, former
Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic and former Croat Serb leader Goran Hadzic). All of them
accused of war crimes, such as ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, torture of civilians and
in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, genocide. All three of these were believed to be hiding
in Serbia. That was proven correct when they were captured in Serbia (Karadzic in 2008 and
Mladic and Hadzic in 2011).
Since the capture of the last major war crime suspect, the European integration process has
been faster for Serbia. In the end of 2009, Serbia submitted a formal application for
membership in the European Union and for candidate status. However, since the Stabilization
and Association Agreement still has not been signed by all the member states national
84
European Commission. Enlargement – Serbia. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/countries/detailedcountry-information/serbia/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 18th, 2014).
51
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
parliaments, it cannot enter into force and Serbia could not be granted candidate status just
yet. In 2012, after recommendations from the European Commission and after the ratification
of the Stabilization and Association Agreement in all the member states parliaments, the
European Council confirms Serbia as a candidate state for membership in the European
Union. One year later, in 2013, the Stabilization and Association Agreement entered into
force for Serbia and in the beginning of 2014, the membership negotiations started between
the Serbian government and the European Union member states governments. What is
interesting to note is that Serbia started out in 2005 with difficulties and lacking behind its
neighbors in the European integration process, but is today seen as the candidate state that is
most likely next to join together with Montenegro85. Serbia concluded the negotiations on visa
liberalization in 2009 and Serbian citizens have been able to travel visa-free in the Schengen
states of the European Union since December 2009. The commitments that have been taken in
the visa liberalization agreements need to be fulfilled even after joining the “visa free zone”.
That is why the European Union has set up a post-visa-liberalization monitoring mechanism
in order to control how well Serbia and the other Western Balkans states are fulfilling their
commitments. Serious breach of agreement could lead to the suspension of the visaliberalization agreement86.
3.6.2 Human rights
The annual progress reports from the European Commission on Serbia puts most emphasis on
the negotiations of normalization in relations with Kosovo. These negotiations have been led
by the European Union, as a new methodological approach from Brussels to directly and early
solve difficult problems in order to avoid blocking the entrance date of the candidate state
later on. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, that has been the Structured Dialogue on Justice, which
is aimed at solving chapters 23 and 24 before the negotiations start because these two chapters
have been proven to be most difficult to close. In the case of Serbia, it is the normalization
process between Serbia and Kosovo that some member states demand show concrete results
before further steps towards joining the European Union can be considered. In the field of
human rights and the protection of minority rights, Serbia has made progress, but not enough.
85
European Commission. Enlargement – Serbia. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/countries/detailedcountry-information/serbia/index_en.htm (downloaded: April 18th, 2014).
86
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 49.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
There are still problems with the protection of minority rights, especially those concerning the
protection of LGBTI person from violence. Political will and support is necessary here and
the Serbian government lack the will of it when they decided to ban the Belgrade Pride parade
for a third year in a row in 2013. The ban was motivated with security reasons and the fact
that the Serbian police could not guarantee protection for the Pride parade, which was under
threats from far-right extremist groups87. The European Commission also points out that
further efforts needs to be taken against ill-treatment by the police force and protection of
human rights defenders and other vulnerable groups, such as LGBTI persons and the Roma
minority. Since June 2013, Serbia has an anti-discrimination strategy. Because it’s a relatively
new implemented strategy, the effects of it weren’t measureable in the 2013 Progress report.
Respect for minority rights in the field of education, use of language and access to media and
religious services in minority languages continues to be a struggle for Serbia88. Furthermore,
Serbia has ratified all the major international conventions and instruments that cover human
rights. The 2013 Progress report also notice that the European Court of Human Rights
delivered 11 judgements last year against Serbia where the candidate state violates the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Just
like in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Union will demand full
implementation of the ECHR verdicts before joining is possible. That will show how strong
the political will is among the Serbian political leaders to fulfill the fundamental human rights
in the Copenhagen criteria. The largest number of applications against Serbia in the ECHR
concerns violation of the right to a fair trial due to the length of procedure and nonenforcement of judgements89. The government’s Office for Human and Minority Rights have
increased their activities involving other government bodies when it comes to training
(judges, prosecutors, prison officers etc)90. Serbia has an Ombudsman that works as a strong
mechanism against ill-treatment, such as persons being deprived of their liberty without any
87
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 10-11.
88
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 11.
89
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 42-43.
90
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 43.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
reason or the police using unnecessary violent brutality against peaceful demonstrators. For
the first time ever, the Serbian Constitutional Court recognized violation of the right to
physical and mental integrity in prison91.
The European Commission noted in their 2013 Progress report that the freedom of assembly
has been minimized and violated for minority groups, such as the ban on the Belgrade Pride
parade in September 2013. Violent far-right extreme groups and football fans continue to be
of major concern for the security situation for the different minority groups in Serbia, such as
the LGBTI minority92. The anti-discrimination strategy that the Serbian parliament adopted in
June 2013 covers the period 2013-2018. Its aim is to combat discrimination in the areas and
among the group of persons that are most likely or are most discriminated in the Serbian
society. This includes combating discrimination that affects the most vulnerable group of
people in Serbia, such as the Roma minority, the LGBTI persons and the women. The Serbian
Criminal Code was updated in the area of “hate crimes” to include ethnic origin, religious and
sexual orientation as motivations of certain hate crimes. The most discriminated groups in
Serbia today are the Roma minority and the LGBTI group. They both often face hate speech
and acts of violence. Respect for and protection of minorities is generally upheld in Serbia,
looking from an international perspective, where the Serbian legal framework is in line with
the Framework Convention National Minorities. Except from the Roma minority, the
Romanian minority has also faced difficulties in pursue of their cultural rights. Up until last
year, there were no possibility to TV programs and language classes in Romanian for the
Romanian minority in Eastern Serbia. The Romanian government even threatened to block
the Serbian membership negotiations if this was not improved93. Same goes for the Bosniak
minority in the Sandzak region, where up until last year there was no curriculum in the
elementary schools in Bosnian (the home language of the Bosniak ethnic group).
After the EU-Serbia seminar on Roma inclusion in June 2011, the Serbian government has
made progress in setting up coordination on the issue. However, the Roma minority continues
91
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 43.
92
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 44.
93
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 46.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
to face difficult living conditions and especially those living in settlements with no water or
electricity. Forced evictions is a problem in Serbia, just like in Romania and Hungary. The
relocation of the forced evicted Roma families still needs to be ensured, since most of them
end up completely homeless. Discrimination continues to be common against the Roma
minority in Serbia, especially concerning social protection, health, and employment and
housing. When it comes to the labour market, the most discriminated groups are the Roma
minority and especially the Roma women. The European Commission concludes that further
financial support is needed by the Serbian government in order to establish full
implementation of the Roma Strategy, which includes breaking the difficult situation of the
Roma minority in the Serbian society94. In conclusion, Serbia seem to have the same problem,
although more widespread, when it comes to integrating the Roma minority into the society,
compared with Hungary and Romania. However, compared to Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Serbia has done more in the legislation part in order to improve the situation of the Roma
minority. More about this in the analysis part of the thesis.
3.6.3 Corruption
Corruption continues to be one of the major challenges for the applying states in the Western
Balkans and this includes Serbia. In the 2013 Progress report from the European Commission,
one of the conclusions is that Serbia has done some progress in the fight against corruption.
However, this is not enough. Serbia continues to implement the recommendations from the
GRECO (Group of States against Corruption). When it comes to corruption, high-level
corruption in public administration is a challenge that most Western Balkans states is
struggling with. Serbia has stepped up the number of investigations in corruption cases in
public sector and especially in the high-level administration. The implementation process
anti-corruption institutions need to be improved and a solid track record of convictions needs
to gradually be build up by the judiciary95. Whistle-blowers in Serbia continues to live at risk
for their own lives, because there is no legal framework yet for the protection of whistleblowers in the country. More work is needed on the support for institutions that work with
94
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 47.
95
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 8.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
combating corruption in the public sector. The financing of the political parties has continued
to be controlled by the Anti-Corruption Agency. However, as mentioned above, the efficiency
needs to be improved of the anti-corruption institutions96. The new government introduced a
“zero tolerance” attitude towards corruption and announced widespread anti-corruption
measurements. This was followed up by the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2013-2018 and an
action plan on effectively combating corruption97. The focus in the strategy is on the structural
perspective (good governance, independent institutions, internal and external financial control
and protection of whistle-blowers). The strategy also has a sectoral approach, where the focus
is on most sensitive sectors, such as the judiciary, the police, the public procurement etc98.
The Anti-Corruption Agency is responsible for monitoring the coordination of the
implementation of the anti-corruption strategy. The Ministry of Justice and Public
Administration is responsible for the coordination. The Anti-Corruption Agency has launched
a widespread public anti-corruption awareness campaign in order to prevent corruption before
it happens. This campaign was spread and shared to 2 112 different public authorities. Serbia
also has an Anti-Corruption Council that works with exposing and analyzing cases of
systematic corruption. The Anti-Corruption Council has an advisory role towards the
government99. However, according to the European Commission, further efforts need to be
taken in order to establish track-records, especially concerning prosecution and conviction of
corruption cases. When it comes to the civil society, they continue to inherit a limited role in
the Serbian society in this manner. One of the reasons seem to be the fact that whistle-blowers
still have no protection according to the Serbian law100.
Serbia has improved a lot since it first started appearing the European Commission progress
reports concerning anti-corruption. However, has this shown any concrete results? The most
96
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 8.
97
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 41.
98
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 41.
99
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 42.
100
European Commission. Serbia – 2013 Progress Report. URL:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2013/package/brochures/serbia_2013.pdf
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014). Page 42.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
credible way to look at it is through the very comprehensive and widely-spread Corruption
Perceptions Index that the Transparency International releases every year and that measure
the development in this area in every country in the world during a period of a year. Once
again, I have chosen to use the CPI years of 2003, 2007 and 2013, in order to be able to
compare with Hungary, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina later on in the analysis part.
These are results of Serbia in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2003, 2007 and 2013:
Year
Place in the CPI
Score in the CPI
2003101
106th
2.3 / 10
2007
79th
3.4 / 10
2013
72nd
4.2 / 10 (42 / 100)
According to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Serbia has made
impressive progress in combating corruption. However, Serbia started out (with Montenegro)
on a much lower level compared with its neighboring states and is today on the same level as
Hungary was in 2003, right before joining. In 2013, Serbia scored better than two member
states of the European Union – Bulgaria and Greece102.
This concludes the second chapter of this thesis, which has been on the empirical focus of
how the enlargement process proceeds and on the cases of Hungary, Romania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Serbia in the European integration process from human rights and
corruption perspectives. In the next chapter, there will be an analysis where the questions and
problems will be discussed of this master thesis. What are the major challenges for Serbia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina on their path towards membership? How strict is the European
Union when it comes to fulfilling the Copenhagen membership criteria? How can we be sure
that once a candidate state becomes a member state that is won’t go backwards in the
development in the areas of human rights and anti-corruption? The next chapter will discuss
these issues.
101
As ”Serbia and Montenegro”.
Transparency International. Corruption Perceptions Index 2013. URL:
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/results/ (downloaded: April 18th, 2014).
102
57
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
4. Analysis
Unlike previous enlargements of the European Union, the Western Balkans enlargement
process is more difficult with more challenges to overcome. One of the biggest reasons is that
the almost entire region is reconstructing societies in a postwar period. Many of the
challenges that the postwar states in the Western Balkans states face today can be connected
to the past and to the 1990’s military conflicts. Some of them go even further back, to the
communist era of the former Yugoslavia and even to the pre-1945 period (especially the
conflicts of the Second World War). For the Central and East European Countries (CEECs)
and for the Western Balkans states, the path after the fall of communism became
Europeanization process. Europeanization is the process of complete and widespread
transformation of societies, where they adjust to European norms, standards and principles.
For the Western Balkans, this has meant reconciliation between former enemies after the war
and creating stability through strong regional cooperation. This process does not happen
without challenges. Several critical voices in the Western Balkans region were raised against
the Serbian government when they showed lack in cooperation with the International
Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which has led to political tensions in the
diplomatic relations between Serbia and its neighbors. The European Union takes it very
seriously whenever something is disturbing the regional cooperation, which is why it has
become a criteria in the enlargement process. Good relations through cooperation with the
neighboring states is necessary for long lasting peace and stability. That is one of the main
ideas behind the “peace project” that the European Union sometimes is called and that is
what’s being transferred now to the Western Balkans. In other words, the process of
Europeanization should ensure long lasting stability in the Western Balkans. It all depends on
how well Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and the other Western Balkans states fulfill the
conditions for Europeanization.
58
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
The process of Europeanization can have different perspectives and different kind of
problems, it all depends on which country we are analyzing. The European Union is a
authoritative actor in this process. Brussels decides the rules and the conditions that must be
fulfilled. The governments of the aspiring countries who wishes to join the European Union
can decide on whether or not to fulfill the conditions. In this process, the European Union is
using the principle of conditionality. This means that “getting things wrong” can be very
costly for the candidate state, both politically and financially. “Getting things right” will be
awarded by taking further steps into the right direction of the Europeanization process 103. One
of the biggest challenges for Serbia in the integration process right now is Kosovo. For some
in the European Union, accepting Serbia as a member while the Kosovo issue is still unsolved
is completely unacceptable. For some others in the European Union, Serbia may be accepted
and the Kosovo issue can be resolved easier once Serbia is a member. Germany was one of
the member states that blocked the start of membership negotiations with Serbia when they
noticed that the normalization process between Serbia and Kosovo didn’t enough concrete
progress. That way, Germany makes sure that the European Union principle of conditionality
is still in practice. Other member states, however, believe progress can be achieved and
challenges can be overcome if the European Union brings the candidate states closer in the
integration process, thereby making European Union membership more popular among the
citizens in the member state. With increased popularity comes increased pressure on the
national governments and authorities to fulfill membership criteria. Critics of the German
approach to the Serbia-Kosovo negotiations mean that the popularity of the European Union
will decrease in Serbia, making membership impossible once the Serbian citizens turn it down
in a future referendum.
One of the biggest challenges for Serbia and for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European
integration process is, as mentioned in the empirical part of this thesis, the difficult living
conditions of the different minority groups in the country, especially the Roma minority.
There is a dilemma here. As long as the European Union keeps pushing and using the
principle of conditionality on Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to fulfill the commitments
in the Copenhagen criteria and as long as these two governments fail to do so, the first ones to
be blamed for it by, first of all far-right extreme groups, will be the Roma minority. This
could lead to an even bigger degree of discrimination and exclusion from the Bosnian and
103
Featherstone, Kevin. Radaelli, M, Claudio. The Politics of Europeanization. Oxford Scholarship. 2003. Page
84.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Serbian societies. Another dilemma is how the European Union has chosen to act on the
previous cases where the situation has been similar. Romania and Hungary has also
experienced difficulties in integrating the Roma minority into the important parts of society –
education, health care, labor market and housing. Forced evictions have been very common
and still are in Romania. This was also very common at the time when Romania and Hungary
joined the European Union. The progress reports from the European Commission was did not
pay much attention to this problem. However, the marginalization and the exclusion of the
Roma minority from the Hungarian and Romanian societies back then and the Bosnian and
Serbian societies now have always caught the attention of the European Commission. From
the human rights perspective, this is one of the more difficult challenges for Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Serbia to overcome or to at least show more progress in.
Another big challenge for both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia is combating corruption.
Serbia has shown some real progress by, for example, growing on the Transparency
International list from place 106 in 2003 to place 72 in 2013. This is however far from
enough, but still Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are both ahead of two member states of
the European Union in the latest Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.
Corruption can be seen in values and traditions. For most of the old member states of the
European Union, corruption is very limited, small and almost non-existing in the private and
public sector, because it is perceived as something bad at all times. However, in the East and
Southeast European cultures, corruption is not always necessarily perceived as something
evil. In a little Bosnian town, where almost everyone is a good friend with the local doctor,
maybe they receive medical health care outside of the regular working hours, with the doctor
making home visits and getting paid without returning receipts and thereby not paying taxes.
Something like this, which would go under “tax fraud” or “corruption” in serious cases, is not
common in the northern parts of Europe, where the culture is more different and more focused
on for example that taxes must be paid for every kind of financial income.
In the next table, the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index can be found on
Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from comparative perspectives. The
used evaluating years are 2003, 2007 and 2013. 2003 was the year when Hungary finalized
the membership negotiations with the European Union. 2007 was the year when Romania
joined and 2013 is the latest released index to see where these states stand today. 1998 and
1999 are also being used for Hungary and Romania. That’s because Hungary started
60
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
negotiations in 1998 and Romania in 1999. Serbia received the approval to start negotiations
in 2013 and did so in the beginning of 2014. The results of the Corruption Perceptions Index
from the mentioned year showed the following:
Country/ Romania
Hungary
Serbia
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Year
Place
Score
Place
Score
Place
Score
Place
Score
1998104
61
3.0/10
33
5.0/10
61
3.0/10
-
-
1999105
63
3.3/10
31
5.2/10
90
2.0/10
-
-
2003106
83
2.8/10
40
4.8/10
106
2.3/10
70
3.3/10
2007
69
3.7/10
39
5.3/10
79
3.4/10
84
3.3/10
2013
69
43/100 47
42/100 72
42/100
54/100 72
The data in the table above are from the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions
Index. They cover the important years in the European integration process of Romania,
Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina107. 1998 was the year when Hungary started
membership negotiations with the European Union and Romania did the same in 1999. 2003
was the year when Hungary finalized negotiations and 2007 was the year when Romania
joined the European Union. 2013 marked the year when Serbia was approved to start
negotiating for membership. From this perspective, the Europeanization process in the field of
anti-corruption has somewhat managed to improve the situation in the countries that have
fulfilled the enlargement criteria. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are ranked
higher in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 than some of the other European Union
104
Serbia was in the CPI 1998 as ”Yugoslavia”. Bosnia and Herzegovina was not in the CPI 1998. URL:
http://archive.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/previous_cpi/1998 (downloaded: April
18th, 2014).
105
Serbia was in the CPI 1999 as ”Yugoslavia”. Bosnia and Herzegovina was not in the CPI 1999. URL:
http://archive.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/previous_cpi/1999 (downloaded: April
18th, 2014).
106
Serbia was in the CPI 2003 as ”Serbia and Montenegro”. URL:
http://archive.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2003 (downloaded: April 18th, 2014).
107
Transparency International. Corruption Perceptions Index. URL:
http://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/overview (downloaded: April 18th, 2014).
61
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
member states (Greece and Bulgaria). This only shows that corruption is not the only factor
that is important in the progress towards membership, but it is one of the most important ones.
The process of Europeanization has also overall lead to an improvement of the living
conditions in the candidate state once it had fulfilled the enlargement criteria. The Human
Development Index (HDI) measures the development of the citizens in a certain state based
on life expectancy, educational attainment and income. Based on the data that the Human
Development Index collects annually, the states in the world are divided into four different
groups – Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Development
and Low Human Development108. In this thesis analysis, I will use the Human Development
Index data from the available years (2000, 2005, 2007 and 2012) to see how the living
conditions and the human development has improved or worsen with the Europeanization
process. The following table shows Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
in the Human Development Index 2000, 2005, 2007 and 2012:
Country
Romani
Hungar
Serbi
Bosnia and
/ Year
a
y
a
Herzegovin
a
2000
Place
Score
Place
Score
Place
Score
Place
Score
58
0.709/
35
0.79/1
50
0.726/
-
-
69
0.724/
1
2005
50
0.756/
1
35
0.82/1
54
1
2007
50
0.772/
1
36
1
2012
57
0.786/
1
0.751/
0.826/
56
0.76/1
1
71
1
38
0.831/
1
0.729/
1
68
0.769/
1
85
0.735/
1
The table above shows how the human development has proceeded in Romania, Hungary,
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during 12 years of European integration109. All of the four
108
Human Development Report. Human Development Report 2013. URL http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi
(downloaded: April 18th, 2014).
109
United Nations Development Program. Human Development Index trends. URL:
https://data.undp.org/dataset/Table-2-Human-Development-Index-trends/efc4-gjvq (downloaded: April 18th,
2014).
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
studied countries show progress in this area. However, making the assumption that the
progress in human development is in correlation with the European integration process can be
risky. There are states in the world that are growing in human and economic development and
that are not in the European integration process. The explanation is perhaps wider than just
Europeanization? Maybe the answer here is globalization and Europeanization is just a part of
it for the Central, East and Southeast European states. The PHARE programme that the
European Union launched and that financially helped the first stage of the Europeanization
process for the post-communist states Hungary and Poland and then the rest of the CEECs can
be seen as a strong reason to the growth in the Human Development Index. Same goes for the
Western Balkans states Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Both of them are receiving
financial support in their integration process through IPA (Instrument for Pre-Accession
Assistance). However, there are other factors that also play an important role and that are also
a part of the European integration process, such as free trade and freedom of movement for
people, services, capital and labor. Serbia is today on the same level as Romania was when
they were membership negotiating, according to the Human Development Index. Bosnia and
Herzegovina is today on a higher level than Romania was when they started negotiating.
These comparisons give a clear picture on where the candidate states will stand when they are
ready to join the European Union and once they have fulfilled the membership criteria.
One of the most important parts of the Europeanization process is adjustment. How well the
institutions, the political elite and the political culture adjusts to the European norms and
standards are crucial for a successful Europeanization. The CEECs managed to transfer from
communist states with socialist economic system to liberal democracies with market
economy. The Western Balkans are going through the same transformation today. The
structure of domestic polity becomes important in the case of Europeanization and
adjustment. The European Union is not a federal state, however, it has some institutional
attributes that are obviously inspired by federalism. The share of power between institutions
(the Commission, the Parliament and the Council) and also the share of power between levels
(the Union level, the national level, the regional and local levels). Not all states are capable of
adopting to the Europeanization when it comes to adopting to the different levels of power.
From the member states within the European Union, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain are
in favor of more integration and more transfer of power to the common institutions in
63
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
Brussels110. These are all federal states and they are all used to decentralization, sharing
power between several levels. How well will Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia adjust to the
European integration in the sense of a “new political level” (union level)? Bosnia and
Herzegovina is already a heavily decentralized state and will most probably join the above
mentioned federal systems in the European Union. Serbia, on the other hand, is more
centralized and will probably join Denmark and France, two states that prefer
intergovernmental model. However, Serbia may join the federal group of states and support
more integration and stronger cooperation, because of the socioeconomic situation in the
country and because of the economic state of Serbia. If the European Union receives more
powers in different political and economic areas, this will surely benefit new member states
such as Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who need stronger cooperation, which comes
with more funding, in order to improve the economic situation in the country.
In order to understand the relations between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Serbia, it is important to understand them from the power relation perspectives. In
international relations, there are three different forms of power. Hard power, soft power and
smart power. Hard power is the use of military and economic tools in order to change the
behavior of a state and/or change the interests of a state or a group of states. Lately we have
seen hard power in the relations between Russia and Ukraine. Russia uses its economic
powers to exercise hard power over Ukraine and to change the Ukrainian interests in
international relations, from wanting to join the European Union to wanting to join the
Eurasian trade and economic union that Russia is preparing between former Soviet states in
the Eurasia area, including the Caucasus area. Loosing Ukraine to the internal market of the
European Union would be tough for Russian economy because Russia is dependent on the
Ukrainian market, and especially the Russian gas export is dependent on the Ukrainian
market. Hard power is mostly used by the global actors that have more saying in international
relations, such as Russia, the United States and China.
Power can also be enforced in international relations between states and international
organizations. This is where soft power is more common. The Europeanization and the
European integration process works through soft power. The principle of conditionality that
the European Union applies on the Western Balkans states in the enlargement process is equal
110
Featherstone, Kevin. Radaelli, M, Claudio. The Politics of Europeanization. Oxford Scholarship. 2003. Page
106.
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
to a form of soft power. The term Soft power was developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard
University. It examines the power relations in international relations through effective
diplomacy, attraction and cooperation. These are all standing against the terms of hard power,
which believes in coerce by force, sanctions and conflicts. There are many areas in which the
European Union cooperates with the Western Balkans states in order to maintain them on the
path of the European Integration process. The step by step strategy, where the European
Union invites the candidate state closer and closer to membership for each important progress
made with reforms is a form of soft power through diplomacy. But it is not all soft power. The
European Union has also the option to use hard power. The Instrument for Pre-Accession
Assistance (IPA) that is being used as financial support for the Western Balkans states to
continue with important reforms can be withdrawn as punishment if the political leaders in a
candidate state show lack of political will to compromise and reach agreements on important
reforms. Bosnia and Herzegovina has been under threats, for example, to lose the IPA support
because of the slow implementation of the Sejdic-Finci verdict, which is one of the major
conditions for further steps in the Europeanization process for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In conclusion, the biggest challenges for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia lies within
corruption and human rights in the Europeanization process. However, if the European Union
does not become stricter in their control over how well the criteria are being fulfilled, like the
case of Romania and Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina may be able to join before
they have fulfilled all the conditions. The protection of minority rights and especially the
protection of Roma rights are still big issues, no matter if we look at member states (Bulgaria,
Romania, Hungary) or candidate states in the Western Balkans (Serbia, Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina).
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Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
5. Conclusion and reflections
The Europeanization process continues to be a challenge for the Western Balkans states, more
so than what it was for the CEECs. Progress has been made and the Western Balkans states
have more or less demonstrated that they are capable of fulfilling conditions that the European
Union sets out. However, they have also demonstrated that once one of the conditions become
a problem, it usually takes too long to solve. Serbia was blocked for several years because of
the poor cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
in handing out suspected war criminals. Bosnia and Herzegovina was blocked for a longer
time when the Bosnian political leaders could not reach an agreement on the police reform,
which was going to unify the ethnically split Bosnian police force and thereby make the
police work more effective. Croatia could not ratify the accession agreement for a longer time
because of the lack in anti-corruption legislation and implementation of these anti-corruption
laws and strategies. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been blocked for several
years now because of the name dispute with neighboring Greece. There is also a difference on
internal and external issues in the European integration process. For countries where internal
issues dominate it may be easier to solve if there is a consensus on European integration and
membership in the European Union. However, even though there’s a consensus, there might
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
still be different perspectives on how to work towards membership. The latter part explains
why Bosnia and Herzegovina has stagnated the last couple of years in the Europeanization
process. The political system of Bosnia and Herzegovina allows for important reforms to be
easily blocked as soon as one of the main political parties are not satisfied with details in
those reforms. The police reform, for example, could have been resolved much earlier in a
normal political system, but in the political system of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a
consequence of the Dayton Peace Agreement from 1995, reaching agreement and
compromise on important reforms becomes much more difficult. This also explains why
Bosnia and Herzegovina is lacking behind their neighbors in the Europeanization process.
Internal issues can be easier solved in Montenegro, Serbia, Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Kosovo and Croatia, compared with Bosnia and Herzegovina, because the
legislative procedure and the political system does not require the same level of consensus
and compromise in those countries as in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the internal
negotiations within Bosnia and Herzegovina between the different political parties will surely
prepare the Bosnian politicians better than their counterparts in the neighboring states once
they have to negotiate in Brussels as member states in the future. They will be used to
reaching consensus and compromising under much more difficult circumstances.
For Serbia, Kosovo remains as the biggest challenge. Even though the European Union agreed
to start membership negotiations with Serbia, these will not close until the Kosovo issue has
been resolved because several member states of the European Union do not want to include a
state with a serious issue like that into the union. When it comes to human rights, the
European Union will either insist on full implementation of the human rights criteria in the
Copenhagen package or it will let some unfinished reform work slip through. In the last
progress report for Romania in 2006, the European Commission concluded that Romania have
achieved satisfactory level of progress in the respect for human rights and minority rights. The
last progress report also mentions that there are further steps that Romania needs to take in
order to improve the human rights situation and especially the protection of minorities. In
other words, Romania was accepted into the European Union without having fully complied
with the Copenhagen criteria on human rights. If the European Union does not demand more
from the new candidate state Serbia and potential candidate state Bosnia and Herzegovina, we
might once again see new membership without the complete fulfillment of the Copenhagen
criteria. However, the various degree in the respect for and protection of minority and human
67
Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
rights varies between Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The one in the
worst situation is most probably Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a discriminatory constitution
where the minorities that do not belong to one of the three “constituent peoples” (Bosniaks,
Croats and Serbs) cannot be elected for high-level offices, the House of Peoples and the
Presidency. That is what the “Sejdic-Finci” case is about (see above). The European Union
has made the implementation of the Sejdic-Finci case as one of the major conditions for
further European integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Without full implementation of the
verdict, the Bosnian constitution is still to be seen as discriminatory and unacceptable for a
future member state of the European Union. There are advantages and disadvantages with the
pressure on the Bosnian politicians to implement the verdict from the European Court of
Human Rights. The biggest advantage is making the Bosnian constitution more democratic
and making it possible for every citizen to run for the highest levels of office, the presidency
and the House of Peoples. The biggest disadvantage is the European integration process and
the slowing down of the Europeanization process. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a high
unemployment rate, most youths see their future outside of the state borders and investors
avoid Bosnia and Herzegovina because of the risky business climate in the country. The
European integration process will bring important reforms to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which
will make it more attractive for foreign investors, make the trade easier, create new jobs and
make youths want to stay in the country. However, these reforms needs to be agreed upon and
implemented by the Bosnian politicians. That process has been blocked today because of the
lack of political will to implement the Sejdic-Finci case.
In conclusion, the global economic situation is also having more influence than ever before on
the Western Balkans region. Before the global financial crisis started in the end of 2008, the
Western Balkans states experienced a period in the beginning of the 2000’s with high
economic growth. 2004-2008 was dominated by a high level of GDP growth in the region.
With economic wellbeing and better socioeconomic situation, the citizens in the Western
Balkans turned down the Eurosceptic political parties and turned to the political parties that
preferred Europeanization. This resulted in pro-European governments in Serbia, Croatia and
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Ademir Zilic
Master Thesis
Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
all the other Western Balkans states. Macroeconomic stability gave socioeconomic stability,
which in turn made the nationalistic parties less favorable in the eyes of the voter111.
The future of the Western Balkans states is in the European Union. This is something that the
governments of the Western Balkans states, the European Union institutions and the citizens
of the Western Balkans states agree upon today. This attitude will most likely continue to be
dominated, unless something radical happens that completely changes the opinion on the
European Union in the Western Balkan. Just like with the CEECs after the fall of the
communist regimes in the beginning of the 1990s, the Western Balkans citizens see
Europeanization as “returning home to Europe”. The positive view on the European Union
among the citizens in the Western Balkans is a belief in the fact that membership in the
European Union will bring better living standards, economic stability and real reconciliation
among the peoples in, especially former Yugoslavia, which is necessary after the 1990’s
devastating wars. The European Union started out once as a peace project after all, reuniting
the old enemies Germany and France into the trade agreement The European Coal and Steele
Community. Economic, and later on political and institutional, cooperation would create
lasting peace and stability in Europe. The time has now come for the Western Balkans to also
enjoy that peace and stability. There is a consensus on this and that is why the enlargement
will continue with the Western Balkans states at least.
In conclusion, the enlargement process contributes to a lot of challenges from the Bosnian and
Serbian perspectives. However, changing the political culture as a consequence of the
Europeanization process depends on how well the domestic political leaders fulfill the criteria
for membership in the European Union. It also depends on how strongly the European
Commission insists on the Copenhagen criteria in their annual progress reports. The parallels
between wide-spread changes in the political culture of a candidate states and a European
Commission that insists on further improving the work on fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria
have been visible in the Western Balkans and in the CEECs during the 1990s. The next step
however, for further academic research, could be how well the European Union makes sure
that the countries that eventually joins do not break their promise from the accession
agreement and stop respecting human rights and combating corruption. This is an important
topic that needs to be evaluated in order to see how the European Union can evolve in the
111
Uvalic, Milica. Chapter 7: The Economic Development of the Western Balkans since Thessaloniki. The
European Future of the Western Balkans – Thessaloniki 10 (2003-2013). Institute For Security Studies. 2013.
Page 73-74.
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Masters in International and European Relations
Linköping University
future, because we have witnessed democratic problems in member states such as Hungary
and human rights problems for minority groups in member states such as Romania.
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