Association: Stepping-stone or alternative to EU membership?

Association: Stepping-stone or alternative to EU membership?:

Enlargement is one of the key issues on the agenda of the European Union. This book, the sixth book in the Contemporary European Studies series, provides a timely assessment of the experience of association, the major form in which the European Community/Union has sought to define its relations with neighbouring states. The purpose of the book is threefold. First, it introduces association and provides an overview of the different agreements concluded by the EC with European states. Secondly, it seeks to establish the nature of association and determine whether it can provide an acceptable alternative to accession. A final purpose is to assess the contribution that associations past and present have made to an associate's prospects for accession to the EU. In other words, is association a stepping-stone to EU membership? The author demonstrates that the meaning and substance of this form of relationship have changed over time, and have been a source of some confusion and frustration for the parties involved. This has been particularly clear in the case of the latest 'European Agreements' involving the Central and Eastern European States.

This book provides a clear, detached and informative survey of an area of the EU's practice that has recently been the subject of much critical comment. The book is split into four parts: Association, Flexibility and the Principles of Practice; Forms of Association; Experiences of Association; Lessons of Association.

The author, David Phinnemore is Lecturer in European Studies, Liverpool Hope University College.