Accession to the EU

It would not be an overstatement to say that the EU
and its enlargements have defined the history of
Europe since the World War II. The EU has already
experienced five waves of enlargement and the process
has not been easy and straightforward. But the
enlargement is still on the EU agenda. The paper
deals with the process of enlargement of the EU and
with two particular cases of accession with the
case of Turkey and the case of Ukraine. During the
past enlargements the main logic behind the process
was the idea of Europe . But it seems like it is not
applicable to the cases of Ukraine and Turkey. Thus
new arguments in favour and against the accession of
these countries are put forward. These new arguments
involve the reassessment of the EU, its identity and
its role in the world. Therefore both cases are very
complex and multifaceted. The countries themselves
add to this complexity.
In the paper I study and compare the accession paths
of each country and the factors, which facilitate and
impede their accession. My conclusion is that both
countries would eventually join the EU, but the
process will take a long time, not least than 15-20
years from now.

Autorentext

Anton Bakhtyr. MA in Political Science from the Central EuropeanUniversity (Budapest, Hungary). Post-graduate student at theKharkiv University of Humanities "People's Ukrainian Academy",Ukraine.

Klappentext

It would not be an overstatement to say that the EUand its enlargements have defined the history ofEurope since the World War II. The EU has alreadyexperienced five waves of enlargement and the processhas not been easy and straightforward. But theenlargement is still on the EU agenda. The paperdeals with the process of enlargement of the EU andwith two particular cases of accession - with thecase of Turkey and the case of Ukraine. During thepast enlargements the main logic behind the processwas the "idea of Europe". But it seems like it is notapplicable to the cases of Ukraine and Turkey. Thusnew arguments in favour and against the accession ofthese countries are put forward. These new argumentsinvolve the reassessment of the EU, its identity andits role in the world. Therefore both cases are verycomplex and multifaceted. The countries themselvesadd to this complexity.In the paper I study and compare the accession pathsof each country and the factors, which facilitate andimpede their accession. My conclusion is that bothcountries would eventually join the EU, but theprocess will take a long time, not least than 15-20years from now.