EU enlargement and power asymmetries: Conditionality and the Commission’s role in regionalisation in Central and Eastern Europe

Article abstract:

Studies of EU conditionality assume a power asymmetry between the Commission and the CEECs over the adoption of the acquis, and at the macrolevel of democratisation and marketisation, rather than tracking clear causal relationships in policies. The article employs regional policy and regionalisation in the CEECs to challenge the 'conditionality model' and demonstrate its limitations. The research draws on interviews conducted with officials in the Commission and in CEEC delegations in Brussels to illustrate actor perceptions, and tracks policy differences within the Commission over time, to demonstrate and explain the weak impact of the Commission on regional policy and regionalisation in the CEECs.