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Reconciling the Deepening and Widening of the European Union |
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reviewed by Ceren Mutus |
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Author: Editors: Steven Blockmans and Sacha Prechal |
ISBN:
978-90-6704-264-2 |
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Publisher:
T.M.C Asser Press |
Page:
193 |
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Type:
Hardcover |
Price:
$25 |
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Review: |
In the history of the modern European integration process, the enlargement strategy has proven to be one of the most important pillars of European security. It has formed the basis of the EU’s evolving soft-power, allowing the Union to stand as a global actor in the extended area ofpeace, security, democracy and rule of law.From the point of view of EU internal dynamics, each enlargement round since 1973 has been accompanied by deep-rooted reforms in the institutional architecture of the Union and this compliance between widening (enlargement) and deepening (further integration) ensured the continuance of support to embrace new countries.
However, the accession of 10 new member states in 2004 (the so-called “big-bang� enlargement) and the ensuing rejection of the Treaty establishing the Constitution for Europe in the French and Dutch referendums in 2005, posed some concerns about the efficiency of the enlargement policy and triggered a debate on some open-ended concepts such as the EU’s absorption capacity, final borders of the Union, European self-identity and culture. In this context, particularly the possible future membership of Turkey has become a central battlefield of contradicting views on the European identity.
This academic volume, titled Reconciling the Deepening and Widening of the European Union, is edited by Steven Blockmans and SachaPrechal who are specialists in EU constitutional and external relations law. It mainly consists of eight chapters written by seasoned academicians, each dealing with different aspects of enlargement policy and trying to clarify the legal means to maintain the balance between member states’ will to deepen the European integration in further new policy areas and the continuance of the widening process in line with member states’ commitments towards the current candidate countries as long as they meet all the accession criteria. The editors set the aim of the volume as to approach the debate on the “enlargement fatigue� with a comprehensive and exhaustive manner and point out legal options to reconcile the deepening and widening agendas of the European Union.
In the first chapter of the volume, Blocksman and Prechal provide the reader a general historical background of the European integration process in terms of widening and deepening. The authors mainly argue that further enlargements and advancement of cooperation among member states do not necessarily contradict each other. Instead, historical experiences have shown that these two arduous processes may go hand in hand. To give an example, southern enlargement, which resulted in the accession of Greece (1981), Spain and Portugal (1986),was accompanied by the Single European Act (1987) that formed the legal basis for completion of the Single Market. Still, taking into account the failure to adopt the Constitutional Treaty and the ongoing stalemate in the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty, the authors favor an institutional rearrangement that will underpin the global character of the EU and secure its further widening.
Another important issue that the authors touch upon is the debate on the EU’s final frontiers. According to the Article 49 TEU, ‘any European state’ which respects the principles set out in Article 6(1) TEU may apply to become a member of the Union. But where is Europe and who can evaluate the Europeanness of the candidate countries? The authors state that it is very difficult and pointless to define Europe in geographical terms since Europe and Asia, as two interconnected land masses, are not separable. Regarding the possible membership of Turkey, the authors do not find convincing the arguments claiming that Turkey does not belong to Europe. Most of its western parts belong to Europe and its religious identity is similar to the other (potential) candidate countries such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia whose Europeanness was not questioned on the ground of religion.
Consequently, the authors perceive widening as an unavoidable political and legal process that will enhance the diversity within the Union. However, they believe in that the main goal should be on the one hand to minimize negative impacts of the enlargement via introducing new systematical institutional reforms to improve the functioning of the Union, and on the other hand, to maximize the benefits derived from enlargement.
The second chapter of the volume deals with a different dimension of the topic, namely the area of freedom, security and justice. The author, Monica den Boer, mainly aims to draw attention to the incompatibility between the substantive law developed in this field and member states’ poor implementation records. She argues that a clear mismatch has occurred in time between the substantive law and the institutional framework in this area due to member states’ unwillingness to transfer their sovereignty in dealing with internal security. They have preferred to remain the main competent authority to maintain the security of their external borders and govern their immigration and asylum policies.
An apparent dilemma has occurred during the construction of the area of freedom, security and justice between inclusion and exclusion. While on the one hand member states have been in favor of immigration policies to sustain the efficiency and continuance of the European labor market, on the other hand, they have begun to put barriers before the third country nationals to travel to Europe and accordingly increased the image of “European Fortress�. The author asserts that the decision-making processes have lacked transparency, judicial protection of human rights and democratic inputs, and she makes a special reference to the importance of parliamentary and judicial scrutiny over both the decision-making process and implementations undertaken by member states.
The main theme of the third chapter, a legal contribution of Norbert Reich, is one of the controversial dimensions of the enlargement policy, namely the free movement of services and freedom of establishment. The fundamental values of the Internal Market which constituted the core motive of the European integration have begun to be questioned after the big-bang enlargement in 2004. In his article, the author examines the different understanding of these two fundamental freedoms between the “old� and “new� member states through analyzing the Laval and Viking cases in the context of enlargement. In these similar cases, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was asked to determine the limits of the collective action which could be used to resist social dumping within the European Union. Whereas the old member states are of the opinion that the protection of the social rights, taking a collective action in the main proceedings, should prevail over the liberalization, the new member states, facing with the difficult task of creating an effective industrial relations structure, advocated availing themselves of free movement rights under EC Treaty in order to benefit from principle of equality and comparative advantage of cheap labor. The author tries to reveal the clash between widening and deepening from a constitutional perspective in which the ECJ plays a major role in reconciliation.
The fourth chapter of the volume is composed of an article written by one of the editors of the book, Steven Blockmans. The chapter mainly focuses on the current state of affairs with candidate and potential candidate countries and argues that despite difficulties in reaching a political compromise on the future institutional structure of the Union, this stalemate should not be interpreted as the end of the enlargement process. According to the author, successive enlargements are the key elements in constructing a peaceful and united Europe as envisaged in the vision of Robert Schuman.
The author also draws attention to the possible consequences of the EU’s withdrawal of its commitments towards candidate and potential candidate countries. He asserts that in such a case, not only the credibility of the Union would be questioned in the context of a negotiating partner but also it would damage its image internationally. Taking into account the EU’s transformative feature, introduction of a tangible prospect of EU membership is the most efficient way to maintain the continuance of economic, political, administrative and legal reforms in those countries.
The volume then turns to legal models other than full EU membership which develop mutually beneficial relations and consequently result in the stability of the Union’s periphery. The author of the fifth chapter, Adam Lazowski, analyses the already established relations between the EU and the European Economic Area, on the one hand, and the EU and Switzerland, on the other. In those kinds of legal models, the focus is mainly put on the enhancement of economic relations, particularly the advancement of utilities gained from participation within the Internal Market. The author defines these models as “a box of chocolates� in which third countries are shown several economic concessions. However, at the same time, the partner countries are destined to remain outside the EU institutional framework.
The author concludes his remarks by saying that although these new models cannot be considered as alternatives to EU membership due to political, economic and legal reasons for those countries who have the intent to accede to the EU, they can serve as a first substantive step towards full EU membership. In this context, Lazowski offers this kind of process for Turkey; however, he misses the point that this “privileged� model is based on the consent of both sides that is lacking on Turkey’s side.
The sixth chapter of the volume deals with the procedural means to advance the functioning of the European Union. The author, Fabian Amtenbrink, first analyses the new phenomenon of “absorption capacity� which has led to speculations about the future of enlargement process due to lack of a proper definition. In this context, he points out to the contradiction among EU institutions in defining the notion. For instance, whereas the European Council in its conclusions has preferred to use the term of “absorption capacity�, the Commission through its reports has preferred to use the term “integration capacity� which leaves plenty of room for advocates of widening. Amtenbrink links this mismatch to institutions’ different interests. Second, the author draws attention to the necessity of a comprehensive reform in the institutional framework of the Union. In his opinion, the current system is insufficient to embrace new countries.
In the seventh chapter of the volume, Andrea Ott mainly touches upon the dynamic nature of the European integration and questions the possibility of a “flexible� future for the Union. The basic argument behind this perspective is that the internal capacity to absorb new member states has become closely linked to new member states' efficiency to implement EU policies externally. Taking into account the evolving heterogeneous structure within the EU, the author advocates a flexible approach in order to maintain the continuance of widening, while preserving some safeguard clauses to ensure the supranational character of the Community law. “Enhanced cooperation� can be counted as one of the consequences of flexibility which allows those countries of the Union that wish to continue to work more closely together, while respecting the single institutional framework of the Union.
The final chapter turns back to the starting point of the volume and begins with pointing out the casual link between widening and deepening. The main argument of the chapter is that constitutional reforms undertaken through accession treaties can give efficient results as long as they underpin the EU’s legal order and do not lead to discrimination based on nationality among candidate countries. The author, Christophe Hillion, puts much emphasis on the regulating role of the European Court of Justice which will supervise the process. The Court will ensure that institutional reforms embedded in the accession treaties respect the fundamental principles constitutional order of the Union.
In conclusion, Reconciling the Deepening and Widening of the European Union is a well written edited book in terms of presenting different dimensions of the debate on whether introduction of institutional reforms is a precondition for the continuance of the enlargement process. Common to all contributions within the book, the enlargement strategy is one of the most important instruments of the EU to appear on the scene as a global actor. In the same vein, authors agree that the current state of the EU institutional structure is not sustainable to cope with further enlargements. Consequently, the clear message of the volume is that these two processes- deepening and widening- can go hand in hand.
The book is recommended to those readers who are interested in the constitutional legal order and the enlargement strategy of the European Union. Taking into consideration the difficulties encountered during the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty and accordingly the stalemate occurred in the negotiations with candidate countries, the deepening/widening debate seems to occupy the EU agenda in forthcoming periods.
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about book: |
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The recent rounds of enlargement have stretched the operational capacity of the European Union to the maximum, triggering a debate on the final shape and borders of the EU and prompting the Member States to review the framework of primary law on the basis of the failed Constitutional Treaty. Reconciling the desire to deepen European integration in several policy fields with the promises made to widen the Union with the current candidate countries (Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey) once they meet all criteria for membership is a big challenge, especially in view of the EU's ambitions to match the US in economic growth, connect with its own citizens and claim its role as a global player. The contributions to this timely volume provide an attempt at clarifying the legal possibilities and limits of models and concepts aimed at reconciling wishes of further 'deepening' and 'widening' of the European Union project. |
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