National minority policies in the EU accession process - the cases of Croatia and Macedonia

This thesis examines the role of EU in shaping national minority policies in Macedonia and Croatia since the launching of the first forms of EU conditionality in relation to the Western Balkans in the late 1990s. Research on EU conditionality has developed foremost in the context of the Eastern enlargement, largely neglecting the former Yugoslav countries. This dissertation contributes to filling this gap by studying the dynamic interactions between the EU and the national level in relation to national minority policies. The thesis utilizes primary document analysis and open-ended interviews in a combination of comparative case study method and process tracing. It tracks and explains the construction, application and implementation of EU conditionality in relation to minority policies between 1997 and 2012. The study employs before and after approach in relation to 2004/2005 when Croatia and Macedonia applied and became official candidates for EU accession. As national minority policies are not part of the EU acquis, the research studies how the EU institutions, especially the EU commission have used international instruments (such as the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities) and national legislative provisions as elements of EU conditionality. In addition, the research examines in depth the policy of employment of minorities in the administration as a novel segment of EU conditionality in the two case studies. The analysis demonstrates the lack of consistency of this mechanism, its development and change over time as well as its potential for polarisation. Primarily, the thesis fills an existing gap in literature concerning the study of the role of conditionality in national minority policies in Croatia and Macedonia. On a conceptual level, this research sheds light on dynamic relationship between Europeanisation by conditionality and democratic consolidation in the conditions of post-communism.