Twenty years have passed for a region that has already embarked on the road to the European Union, and the dual concept of “join or withdraw” membership has become obsolete. Milena Lazarevic and Michael Emerson wrote that a group of think tanks has now come up with a proposal to unlock the joining process and allow progressive membership in stages.
Milena Lazarevic is the project director of the European Policy Center (CEP Belgrade). Michael Emerson is an associate senior researcher and the Center for European Policy Research (CEPS).
Obviously, no one is satisfied with the current situation in the Western Balkans. Judging from the current situation, countries in the region are unlikely to make sudden and substantial progress in becoming full members.
In order to break the deadlock, it is necessary to get rid of some of the characteristics of the precise accession model used in the previous EU enlargement, while making formal membership the ultimate goal.
Ideas proposed by the Western Balkan Think Tank Network, Thinking for the European network (10) and Brussels European Policy Research Center (CEPS) is based on the level of progress achieved under strict monitoring and conditions. The joining process should be broken down into functional/departmental and institutional elements, allowing partial and progressive members to be joined in stages.
The details and conditions of such arrangements vary between the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as the EU’s advisory bodies, institutions and programs-in some cases it is just a structured policy dialogue, in other cases it is observer status and Participate more fully.
In fact, the revised expansion method has emphasized the tangible benefits of citizens and the possibility of gradual integration into EU policies and plans-including observer status on issues that may be of importance to them at relevant EU meetings, as an increase The political appeal of the process to the region.
However, these ideas have basically not been resolved after being adopted. Therefore, as far as the current situation is concerned, it is still possible that the main political and socio-economic benefits of the accession process can only be realized at the time of accession.
The key instruments to implement the proposal will be, first, the EU adopts a legally precise text defining the progressive steps in the differentiated accession process, and secondly, the signing of a legally binding agreement with the candidate country, marking the gradual adoption.
Precedents for this kind of integration already exist. The European Monetary Union and Schengen are key examples, but more effort is needed to fully develop a model for specific stages of membership and its conditions.
In order to properly apply differentiated integration in the expansion process, the decision to advance the acquisition of certain rights or withdraw these rights when necessary needs to be based on a more detailed, coherent and quantifiable method to evaluate the performance of various rights. “Sections” related to clearer conditions.
Civil society in the region often warns that the existing legal framework for negotiations is ineffective in resolving the problems of national seizures and democratic regression in the Western Balkans.
By equipping the phased membership method with improved methods, it can not only ensure the correct understanding of deeper governance issues, but also reduce the risk of damage to the operation of the EU through the veto power in the hands of more fragile democracies.
Improvements in this area also help to make the whole process more credible and convincing in the eyes of all EU member states.
What better way to start dealing with these proposals than putting them on the agenda of future European conferences?
