EU Conditionality in the Context of the 2004 Enlargement

Abstract

This chapter examines the evolution of EU enlargement conditionality by focusing on the first phase of the fifth enlargement, which expanded the Union by ten countries on 1 May 2004. The analysis of EU enlargement conditionality towards the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia together with Cyprus and Malta is highly relevant for the examination of the evolution of EU conditionality. The 2004 enlargement was not only unprecedented in scale and scope but also represented the EU’s initial response to the high number of requests for membership from the former communist states. Thus, the case study selection allows us to trace the early developments and test the impact of institutional and external factors on the EU conditionality of a uniquely exceptional enlargement round.