Suchergebnisse

In this article, we present certain historical developments, problems & successes that have characterised Slovenia's process of joining the EC/EU. The article discusses the difficulties at the bilateral & multilateral level that Slovenia has been experiencing in its attempts to establish closer links with the EU. We examine the general & specific responses of the EU in the course of negotiating the different stages of accession. Slovenia's progress was much less depending on its own economic & political performances than on some discussed issues with neighbouring EU Member States & the multilateral framework of the accession strategy of the EU. The accession criteria do not constitute the only discourse of negotiations. Rather on the opposite, it seems that politics & sometimes certain national & other interests (especially Italy & Austria) prevailed in the negotiations on the acquis. At the end, the article deals with some dilemmas of public support for EU Membership. The gap between political elites & citizens was obvious since public opinion was shifting from a more to a less favourable opinion in the decade before 2001, although finally the trend reversed. Tables, Graphs, References.