The Macedonian equitable representation vs. public administration reform : the lack of interaction between EU accession requirements

english

2012

volume 5, issue 2

Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The paper discusses the problem of lack of interaction between different EU accession requirements as an intrinsic feature of the EU external governance that impacts the quality of the Europeanisation outcomes in the candidate countries. It takes the Macedonian equitable representation policy of the smaller ethnic communities as a case study, and discusses its interplay with the requirement on Public Administration reform. On the basis of a qualitative analysis of the EU Progress Reports and a desktop research on the implementation of the equitable representation policy vis-a-vis the Public Administration reform, the paper infers that the EU approach seriously fails in linking these interrelated accession requirements. This contributes to overlooking the real roots of the problems, and additionally reflects on the lack of clear guidelines and recommendations for the candidates. Thus, EU fails to establish a right 'diagnosis' and 'therapy' for the country, which leads to suboptimal Europeanisation outcomes.

20.12.2023