All of you will betray the EU tonight! Speak now or remain silent
The citizens of North Macedonia have legitimate expectations to start accession negotiations with the EU now. North Macedonia has pursued difficult reforms and made unprecedented compromises. Our country even changed its constitutional name, driven by the promise for EU membership. Yet, at the General Affairs Council tomorrow we will likely witness a betrayal again. This […]
Stimulating strategic autonomy: Western Balkans’ contribution for a shared European Future
Under the title “Stimulating strategic autonomy. Western Balkans’ contribution for a shared European Future” the 2020 Think Tank Forum welcomed more than 150 experts and participants to Skopje, North Macedonia in March 2020. Following the precedent event in Poznan, Poland the year before, the Think Tank Forum is connected to the Berlin Process, a format […]
Making Europe Strong Again in its entirety. The German EU Council Presidency 2020 and its implications for North Macedonia
Making Europe Strong Again in its entirety. The German EU Council Presidency 2020 and its implications for North Macedonia
Global change starts at the doorstep: Why the Western Balkans matter for Ursula von der Leyen’s geopolitical Commission
Global change starts at the doorstep: Why the Western Balkans matter for Ursula von der Leyen’s geopolitical Commission
The devil is in the details: negotiating North Macedonia’s EU accession
The devil is in the details: negotiating North Macedonia’s EU accession
Uniformity and Differentiation in the Fundamentals of EU Membership: The EU Rule of Law Acquis in the Pre- and Post-accession Contexts
The paper discusses the nexus between the EU pre-accession conditionality and membership obligations to guarantee respect for the rule of law as a founding value of the EU, common to the Member States. It does so through the prism of the notions of legal uniformity and differentiation. The paper examines how the EU’s rule […]
Is the EU’s Accession Conditionality Paving the Way for a More Integrated Rule of Law Policy in the EU?
EU enlargement has been one of the principal vectors of differentiation in the process of European integration due to transitional opt-outs from some obligations (and privileges) of membership (Schimmelfennig 2014). Also, EU accession conditionality has demanded compliance with conditions which in some cases have entailed much stricter obligations for the (potential) new Member States in […]
IDSCS organized second workshop on the new EU enlargement methodology
Institute for Democracy together with Francois Lafond, adviser to Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs , organized a second closed workshop on the new EU enlargement methodology as proposed by the European Commission in February 2020. The debate between stakeholders from state institutions, Civil Society Representatives and academics was based on a commentary […]
Tweet Global, Connect (Only) Local? National Twitter Bubbles vs. European Interests in the Western Balkans
To what extent are politicians from Western Balkan countries connected to their counterparts from other countries in the region? Do they follow political actors from the European Union? Or maybe rather national representatives? With permission of Twitter, IDSCS has extracted online relationships between accounts in the period between August and September 2019. One aspect of […]