The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’?
This article provides an up-to-date overview of the problems connected with European integration. It focuses on the phenomenon of ‘enlargement fatigue’ and examines its meaning as utilised by the media, EU officials and academics. The article argues that ‘enlargement fatigue’ is not a new concept si...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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UACES
2010-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
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| Online Access: | http://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/124/192 |
| _version_ | 1818944042528931840 |
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| author | Anna Szolucha |
| author_facet | Anna Szolucha |
| author_sort | Anna Szolucha |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article provides an up-to-date overview of the problems connected with European integration. It focuses on the phenomenon of ‘enlargement fatigue’ and examines its meaning as utilised by the media, EU officials and academics. The article argues that ‘enlargement fatigue’ is not a new concept since the EU has witnessed many 'symptoms' of fatigue at multiple times in its history. The two main arguments that are often presented in order to explain why the EU has not been able to counter ‘enlargement fatigue’, namely the insufficiently tight conditionality applied to prospective members and the EU's crisis of confidence and accountability after the failed attempt to introduce the Constitutional Treaty and prolonged Lisbon Treaty ratification process, are insufficient to explain why fatigue has been so persistent a phenomenon. This article argues that the EU's failure to develop a new vision of the organisation and adjust its structural design accordingly is a reason why the Union has not dealt successfully with fatigue. Such a vision would encompass notions of “variable geometry”, “avant-garde groups” and make European borders flexible and fuzzy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T07:36:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-57edd561e3fe46efac627e42db2071ce |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1815-347X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T07:36:56Z |
| publishDate | 2010-05-01 |
| publisher | UACES |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-57edd561e3fe46efac627e42db2071ce2022-12-21T19:48:15ZengUACESJournal of Contemporary European Research1815-347X2010-05-0161107122The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’?Anna Szolucha0University of St AndrewsThis article provides an up-to-date overview of the problems connected with European integration. It focuses on the phenomenon of ‘enlargement fatigue’ and examines its meaning as utilised by the media, EU officials and academics. The article argues that ‘enlargement fatigue’ is not a new concept since the EU has witnessed many 'symptoms' of fatigue at multiple times in its history. The two main arguments that are often presented in order to explain why the EU has not been able to counter ‘enlargement fatigue’, namely the insufficiently tight conditionality applied to prospective members and the EU's crisis of confidence and accountability after the failed attempt to introduce the Constitutional Treaty and prolonged Lisbon Treaty ratification process, are insufficient to explain why fatigue has been so persistent a phenomenon. This article argues that the EU's failure to develop a new vision of the organisation and adjust its structural design accordingly is a reason why the Union has not dealt successfully with fatigue. Such a vision would encompass notions of “variable geometry”, “avant-garde groups” and make European borders flexible and fuzzy.http://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/124/192EU enlargement‘Enlargement fatigue’European integrationDifferentiated integration |
| spellingShingle | Anna Szolucha The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’? Journal of Contemporary European Research EU enlargement ‘Enlargement fatigue’ European integration Differentiated integration |
| title | The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’? |
| title_full | The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’? |
| title_fullStr | The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’? |
| title_full_unstemmed | The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’? |
| title_short | The EU and ‘Enlargement Fatigue’: Why Has the European Union Not Been Able to Counter ‘Enlargement Fatigue’? |
| title_sort | eu and enlargement fatigue why has the european union not been able to counter enlargement fatigue |
| topic | EU enlargement ‘Enlargement fatigue’ European integration Differentiated integration |
| url | http://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/124/192 |
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