Suchergebnisse

The article describes the enlargement process of the EU towards the East in the nineties with its historic, political, security, economic & moral dimensions primarily focusing on the Czech Republic's Accession to the EU. The first section of the article covers the historical background of the relations between the EC/EU & the Czech Republic in the first half of the nineties, the Czech accession application & the approach of EU Member States versus the enlargement process. The discussion about enlargement depended on the internal political & economic situation in the Candidate Countries as well as on the willingness of the Member States. In 1996 the Czech Republic submitted a formal accession application. After the Commission issued its positive opinion on the Czech application & the Member States endorsed it, official negotiations started on 30 March 1998. The assessments of the Commission played a unique role in the enlargement process & clearly showed substantial, structural & sector deficiencies of the Czech Republic. In 1999 even the economic evaluation assigned it the last position of the "Luxembourg group." Compared to other states from this group the Czech Republic showed only little progress in several negotiation chapters & was warned by the Commission that a slow speed of harmonisation did not correspond to the political criteria. However, the 2000 Report could be seen more positive. The Czech Republic returned step by step to the group of the best-prepared candidates. The last part of the study concentrates on the "chapter by chapter" negotiations from the beginning in 1998 to the Summit in Copenhagen in 2003 & the dilemma of public support for enlargement in Member States as well as in the Czech Republic. It analyses the process whereas one party had to prove its maturity being subject to the process, which put extreme demands on it, while the other party had not been under such pressure. Appendixes, References.