EU Enlargement in Disregard of the Rule of Law: A Way Forward Following the Unsuccessful Dispute Settlement Between Croatia and Slovenia and the Name Change of Macedonia

EU enlargement has always been a political process. That said, the rule of law is an important aspect and principle of the EU enlargement policy. Implementation of EU driven reforms in candidate countries largely depends on the rule of law-based enlargement as well as on a clear EU perspective. Overpoliticisation of the enlargement process renders the EU’s enlargement law futile and undermines both the transformative effect of the pre-accession process and EU’s own values. The implementation of the enlargement condition for settlement of bilateral disputes, which became pronounced in the EU enlargement towards the Western Balkan countries, is having the negative effect of contributing to deterioration rather than promotion of the rule of law in both EU candidate countries and the EU’s enlargement process. Lack of predictability and rule of law accordingly, makes the effective application of the principle of conditionality impossible. A genuine reconsideration of the condition for settlement of bilateral disputes within the EU enlargement framework, clear EU perspective and viable way forward are urgently needed for bringing rule of law and the EU’s credibility on track.