Publication

At the Copenhagen meeting of the European Council in 1993, the European Union (EU) committed itself not only to future enlargement but also to ensuring the respect for and the protection of minorities in its candidate states. To achieve this, the EU initiated a process of accession based on fulfilling a plethora of membership criteria, explicit and implicit conditionalities, and adherence to international norms and instruments of minority protection. But how effective have these various conditions and incentives been and do they amount to a coherent 'European' policy on protecting minority rights?