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Whilst completing the largest enlargement round in its history, European Union faced the need to define both its identity & nature & limits of its future borders. In the aftermath of the failed constitutional referenda & suspension of the ratification process, the pace of future enlargement will inevitably slow down. This has already been the case with the East European countries during the 1990s, whose membership perspective was overclouded by Union's internal issues. Expansion of the EU will undoubtedly continue, but its present absorption capacity has reached endpoint. The chance for the institutional reform, through which future enlargement would keep momentum, has been discarded together with the rejection of Constitutional Treaty. The main issue of todays EU's relations with immediate neighbourhood is the way to ensure democratic consolidation & Europeanisation of these states in absence of the full membership perspective. Upon that European Neighbourhood Policy was envisaged, through which EU offers "everything, but institutions.". References. Adapted from the source document.

This paper argues that various EU policy initiatives towards the Western Balkans in the period of 1990-1999 did not in fact encourage the Western Balkans to move on and secure quicker integration into the European Union. They also failed to support reforms in the political, economic and social spheres. In addition, EU initiatives were too ineffective in terms of development of regional cooperation among countries of the region. Thus, new models were -- and still are -- needed if the EU remains committed to further enlargement in the Western Balkans. The author proposes development of a euro-region in the Western Balkans. In this way, countries of the Western Balkans would be encouraged to collaborate in applying for EU funding, which would support other forms of cooperation. However, since the funds are now restricted, it is more likely that even this approach would have only limited success. Adapted from the source document.

The paper looks into the effectiveness of the application of preferential quotas for electoral posts & compares the different quota systems in the EU countries. Starting from the assumption that political parties in contemporary democracies are major actors in the representation of women in national parliaments, the author analyses the (un)favourable conditions for women in candidacy procedures & some examples of (un)successful quota implementations. The conclusion is that a successful application of the quotas for women depends on a set of additional variables such as the quota application in proportional electoral systems, the entrenchment of the quotas in women's movements & their consistent & long-term implementation. Tables, Graphs, References. Adapted from the source document.

This paper argues that various EU policy initiatives towards the Western Balkans in the period of 1990-1999 did not in fact encourage the Western Balkans to move on and secure quicker integration into the European Union. They also failed to support reforms in the political, economic and social spheres. In addition, EU initiatives were too ineffective in terms of development of regional cooperation among countries of the region. Thus, new models were -- and still are -- needed if the EU remains committed to further enlargement in the Western Balkans. The author proposes development of a euro-region in the Western Balkans. In this way, countries of the Western Balkans would be encouraged to collaborate in applying for EU funding, which would support other forms of cooperation. However, since the funds are now restricted, it is more likely that even this approach would have only limited success. Adapted from the source document.

Based on Paul Feyerabend's distinction between guided & free exchange, the author argues that the accession of the post-communist states to the European Union took the form of the former kind, i.e. the form of communication where all participants in the process voluntarily embrace the meaning of law developed through inter-institutional discourse within the European Union. However, due to the nature of European law which does not apply to the purely internal situations in the Member States, a completely guided exchange between the EU & candidate countries is not possible. The author holds that the unity of, & loyalty towards, the European constitutional framework in an enlarged European Union is best served by the discoursive construction of the meaning of constitutional choices, principles & rules. References. Adapted from the source document.

In this text, consequences of the Croatian referendum for the EU held on January 22, 2012 are analyzed from various standpoints and from the angle of the controversy which it caused in the public, but also in the expert and scientific discourse in Croatia. The author first discusses the holding of the referendum in the context of its date-setting, which brought about a dispute between the government and the opposition and a part of the Eurosceptic public. Second, controversy arose regarding participation in the referendum, which is approached here in the context of irregularity accusations. Third, there is the issue of the referendum's legality and legitimacy, and the author draws a comparison with referenda held in other accession countries -- not only in the fifth round of enlargement with post-communist and Mediterranean countries, but also in other countries where the referendum did not have a positive outcome. Relying on the available facts and variable analysis related to the referendum, the author then asserts that the Croatian referendum for the EU was undoubtedly successful, that its results, both with regard to the participation and the outcome, were even better than in many post-communist countries of the fifth enlargement. Finally, the reasons for the tardiness of Croatia's EU accession in contrast to the other Middle-European and Eastern-European countries and Slovenia are analyzed. It is viewed as a consequence of wrong political estimations and decisions. The author also focuses on the informational and educational deficit regarding the EU in Croatia, and finds that the Croatian citizens are poorly informed on the EU because of specific decisions of the government. Still, the result of the referendum met with positive reactions of EU political bodies and the member states, which opens up the process of ratification in other EU countries that should lead to full membership of Croatia in the EU on July 1, 2013. Adapted from the source document.

Croatia's EU accession has been covered in Croatian dailies as one of the pivotal foreign-policy events of the past several years judging by the number of the pertinent texts in the periods covered by this analysis (the positive avis & the postponement of the negotiations): in the four studied months in 2004 & 2005, a total of 1,523 texts in the three analyzed dailies ( Vecernji list, Jutarnji list, Vjesnik) were identified. Regardless of the differences in the profile of these dailies, there are no significant differences in reporting, which shows that the process of Croatia's EU accession is not only a popular topic but also utilized by the media & politics. The content analysis of the three Croatian dailies confirms that the European Union is presented within a political framework, while a whole array of other related topics has been neglected in the coverage. References. Adapted from the source document.