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Slovenia		 EU accession: the Copenhagen political criteria in ten Central and East European countries
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Goal of the project
The project aims at monitoring the Copenhagen political criteria for accession to the European Union (see below), as identified by the EU in the ten Central and East European (CEE) accession countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). On this page we give an overview of the enlargement process and examine the Phare programme, the EU's main channel of funding for promoting enlargement and the criteria. We also supply links to texts and papers by policy centres dealing with these and related issues. On the country pages we list a number of projects funded by Phare to aid in the fulfilment of the political criteria in each of the candidate countries. 

The Enlargement process
In 1993, at the Copenhagen European Council, the Member States took a decisive step towards the current enlargement, agreeing that 'the associated countries in central and eastern Europe that so desire shall become members of the European Union... Accession will take place as soon as an applicant is able to assume the obligations of membership by satisfying the economic and political conditions required'. [From the Enlargement Directorate General website:] 

These 'conditions', known as the 'Copenhagen criteria' are:

  • stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities (known as the 'political criteria'); 
  • the existence of a functioning market economy as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union (known as the 'economic criteria'); 
  • the ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union (known as the acquis communautaire criteria).
Briefly, the stages of the enlargement process have been as follows:
  1. 'Europe Agreements' were signed with countries desiring membership. These establish the legal framework for accession to the European Union.
  2. The European Commission delivered its 'Opinions' (in July 1997) on the readiness of the candidate countries for membership, taking into account the Copenhagen criteria. In practice negotiation could not begin until the first "political" criteria had been fulfilled. 
  3. The Opinions were published together with the EU's outline for accession and the future of the EU in Agenda 2000, which also outlined the challenge of Enlargement and the financial framework for 2000-2006.
  4. The Commission publishes 'Regular Reports on progress towards accession' [1999; 1998 reports here] on each country yearly, following the same structure as the opinions. 
  5. 'Accession partnerships' are drawn up with candidate countries on the basis of the Regular Reports, outlining the goals and obligations of the EU and each country in the short, medium and long term. 
  6. Negotiations between the EU and the candidate country are based on the candidate's adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire - the principles, resolutions, legislation, treaties and agreements of the Union.
The decision to open accession negotiations with the first five CEE countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia) was taken at the Luxembourg European Council in December 1997 on the basis of the Commission's Opinions. The Helsinki European Council of 10 December 1999 endorsed the Commission's recommendations to open accession negotiations with five more CEE countries - Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia. Other candidate countries are Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, although negotiations have not yet begun with Turkey

An account of the enlargement process can be read in the brochure, European Union Enlargement, a historic opportunity (pdf). Information is also available at the web site of the European Union Delegation to the United States, which carries a page devoted to EU-CEC Relations.

The Phare Programme
EU funding to assist the accession countries in fulfilling the political criteria is channelled through the Phare Programme. Phare was originally designed in 1991 to provide economic support for Hungary and Poland, and although it now provides funding to all ten CEE countries as well as certain non-candidate countries in South-East Europe, the Copenhagen criteria are not an explicit part of its structure. As a result it is difficult to determine the precise extent of funding specifically in support of the political criteria. Phare is designed to assist all accession countries in fulfilling all the criteria for accession, and the political criteria receive proportionally less support than the economic and acquis communautaire criteria.

A brief outline of Phare:

  • The Phare budget is a little over 1 billion Euros annually (1.15 bn. Euros in 1998). 
  • Phare covers, but is not limited to, the EU accession countries of Central and East Europe.
  • Practically all Phare funding supports national government programmes.
  • About 1% of the Phare budget is spent on civil society projects (through the Democracy Programme), though this is due to increase. This money was primarily channelled through the Partnership and Lien programmes, which are to be replaced in 2000 by the Access programme. This money has generally gone to NGOs. 
  • In addition, funding for NGOs is available through the EU's European Initiative for Democratisation and Human Rights, which has a budget line for the CEE countries including non-candidate. This programme was commonly (and confusingly) known as the Phare Democracy Programme, because of the geographical area it referred to. It is run by DG External Relations, and most projects dealing with minorities are funded through this programme. 
  • 70% of the total Phare budget is spent on "investment".
  • The remaining 30% goes towards "institution building". Many projects touching on the political criteria come under this heading, particularly anti-corruption and judicial reform initiatives.
  • The main instrument of institution building is twinning, whereby the EU funds experts from EU Member States to support local governmental institutions on the ground. 
  • Another instrument of institution building is termed "Reforming the public administrations of the candidate countries". Phare projects to strengthen the judiciary or combat corruption often come under this heading.
  • Phare projects are evaluated by the Commission's Common Service for External Relations (SCR), who also manage tendering procedures. To date the SCR has not evaluated projects touching on the criteria.
Some useful Phare documents online:
  • Phare address book - a comprehensive list of all the contacts within and related to Phare. Available in zip and pdf formats. Last updated, April 4 2000.

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  • The Phare Programme Search Utility - the only way to access approved Phare programmes online. 

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  • Phare Annual Report 1998 (zip format) - the most recent annual report from Phare available online. The report gives a useful overview of Phare's approach, but has little to say about the political criteria. The structure of Phare has changed greatly since the publication of this report.

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  • Overview of the Phare program and the New Pre-Accession Funds (pdf format) - proceedings of a seminar held in Budapest, September 1999. Provides some clarity on the operation of Phare, described in the introduction as "one of the most difficult and bureaucratic programmes ever devised by the Community".

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  • Evaluation of Phare and Tacis Democracy Programme, (html, also pdf here) 1997. The last available evaluation of the Phare Democracy Programme. The programme has since been integrated with the European Initiative on Democratisation and Human Rights. The document is particularly good for explaining how the programme worked and the funding available to it between 1992-1997. The evaluation, by ISA Consult at the University of Sussex, is largely positive, although few detailed evaluations of individual projects are included.

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  • Compendium of Ad-hoc Projects 1993-1997, 1998 (pdf format). The ad-hoc project facility was one of three strands of the Democracy Programme, designed to respond more flexibly to needs identified by the Commission. The other two strands were macro-projects - the bulk of support for NGOs, managed by the European Human Rights Foundation - and micro-projects, initiated directly by EU delegations in the countries. The ad-hoc facility focused on Roma and Corruption in the mid to late nineties. 

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  • EU Support for Roma communities in Central and Eastern Europe, 1999 (pdf format).  The document contains an impressive list of Phare funded and supported projects aimed at Roma communities in the accession countries. It also provides some up to date information on the new Phare structure. 

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  • Guidelines for Phare Programme Implementation in Candidate Countries for the Period 2000-2006. (rtf format, also html) The most recent Phare guidelines explicitly state the priority to “fulfil the requirements of the first Copenhagen  criterion: the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.”  This is given as the second of two “institution building” priorities. The guidelines also offer “civil society measures” to underpin this priority.
Online studies on the EU, enlargement, human rights and democratisation
A key guide to human rights in the European Union is the seminal text by Philip Alston' and J.H.H. Weiler at the Academy of European Law entitled the Final Report on an EU Human Rights Agenda for the Year 2000. (in rtf format; zip also available). The agenda itself is also online (rtf and zip). An introduction on the Academy's site can be found here. An updated version of the same report is available on the Harvard Jean Monnet Chair web site.
  • The European Research Papers Archive is a useful site for finding papers on the EU generally. It allows a search through 305 online papers (currently) from six policy centres. All six are linked below.
The Robert Schumann Centre is a policy centre in the European University Institute in Fiesole. The following policy papers are the work of their "Reflection Group on the Long-Term Implications of EU Enlargement: The Nature of the New Border". A full list of working papers from the Centre can be found here. Other relevant working groups at the Robert Schumann Centre include the Working Group on Democratisation of the European Union, working groups on Eastward Enlargement of the EU, and on Democratic Consolidation in Central and Eastern Europe. At the head of these last programmes is Professor Jan Zielonka. Online papers of relevance include (up to 1999 only): The Jean Monnet Chair at the Harvard Law School , affiliated with the European Union Centre at Harvard University has an up to date database of papers, including the following:  Other sources of papers are:

Countdown, at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW). 'Countdown was created with the intention to help filling the huge information and communication gap that prevails in this research field as yet.' The site boasts an unnecessarily complicated search engine.

Non EU sites dealing with Enlargement
Enlargement focus

The Bertelsmann Foundation supports research into the European Union and its Neighbours, and is running a joint project with the World Bank - "Towards European Integration" - Network for Integration of Central and Eastern European countries into the European Union. Bertelsmann papers include:

The Foundation also supports the  Bertelsmann Group for Policy Research at the Centre for Applied Policy Research, researching into the Eastern Enlargement of the EU. Papers include: The European Policy Centre - 'an interface between government, business and civil society'. Features the online journal Challenge Europe with essays and articles on enlargement, including: General EU focus EU news CEE news NB: Local news resources are given on the country pages.
Other useful EU sites
The Enlargement Commission web site features an introduction to the process, including Agenda 2000, and (if you search a little) the Europe Agreements and the Commission's Opinions on the candidate countries. The site also has a key documents page, where the Accession Partnerships and the Regular Reports on Progress Towards Accession can be downloaded as well as certain other texts and brochures explaining enlargement. Other resources include speeches and a guide to pre-accession assistance. 

The EU Parliament's enlargement site is more generous with texts, including the official positions on enlargement of the Parliament, other EU institutes, the member states and the accession countries. A rich source are the briefing papers on Enlargement, drafted by the European Parliament Secretariat's Task-Force on Enlargement. These "aim to present in a systematic, summary form, the state of discussions on the various aspects of enlargement of the Union and the positions adopted by the Member States and European institutions." They can be navigated by country or by subject. A relevant sample is given below:

'Turin Foundation': The European Training Foundation, based in Turin, whose work focuses on vocational training, have carried out a series of projects in the candidate countries with Phare assistance, and have produced 'background studies on employment and labour market' in the candidate countries for the Directorate General for Employment and Social Affairs. The reports touch on minority and ethnic employment conditions, as well as attempting to assess the unofficial economy in each country. 

Eurobarometer: Until recently, DG X produced the Central and Eastern Eurobarometer, the last survey year being 1998. The Eurobarometer measured public opinion about the EU and 'the political climate in the region', on a face to face survey basis. This service is to be replaced by the 'Applicant Countries Eurobarometer', due to be launched by the Commission in 2000.

General EU Information: 

There are numerous central EU web sites, a fact which makes searching for documents and information complicated. The sites are updated frequently but inconsistently, however they often carry few documents of immediate relevance. As a result of the reform of the Commission, many of its sites are in the process of moving house, so whatever content is available is often spread over two or more parallel sites. Lastly, each site has its own search engine, ranging from the ideal (the excellent Europa search engine) to the unusable (Consilium).

Sites for searching texts and other information:
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