Democratic Conditionality in Eastern Enlargement: Ambitious Window Dressing

Abstract

This article addresses the promotion of democracy in the enlargement process of the Central and Eastern European countries. We start by outlining EU democracy promotion during accession, with a particular focus on political conditionality. In a subsequent part we argue that the European Commission did not make a clear substantive distinction between the concepts of rule of law and democracy. In addition various drawbacks are identified which demonstrate the vagueness and inconsistencies which characterize the EU’s application of democratic conditionality. A final part illustrates these points by focusing on the EU’s democratic conditionality towards the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The conclusion reads that the EU did not have a well-defined view and approach to the promotion of democracy and the rule of law in the Eastern enlargement.

Keywords: EU, enlargement, democracy, conditionality, rule of law, PHARE, accession, Eastern Europe, Czech Republic, Slovakia, European Commission