"Låt den rätte komma in..."
- En studie om Kroatiens och Turkiets resa mot EU-medlemskap
EU is an organization that has expanded really fast during the last years. When you read about different EU membership processes you notice that some processes have been much faster than others. Spontaneously you think that this depends om that some countries have not been fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria. However, during the last decennium some scientists have written articles about motives that have affected the membership processes. The basic problem in my essay is how we are supposed to understand a membership process? Since I was interested in if I could see the same inconsistent behavior pattern in other membership processes I chose to study Turkey and Croatia. The purpose with my essay is to see how the Copenhagen criteria is or has been used in Turkey's and Croatia's processes and which motives that have been emphasized by scientists. After I have been reading official documents and articles I can conclude that both countries fulfill the political and economic criteria, but it is only Croatia that fulfills the administrative criteria. However, both countries have received critique about their treatments of minorities during the whole processes. According to scientists, security and identity have been strong motives in both countries' processes. When I have analyzed my material from an institutional perspective I can also conclude that EU's enlargement policy has affected the both countries' behavior and development. On the other hand, EU's enlargement policy has been affected by the context both within and outside the organization. Besides the policy has not seem to change the memberstates' preferences, which has resulted in that single memberstates have been acting on their own benefits.