EU Enlargement - A Powerful Foreign Policy Tool? - A study of Member States' actions in the enlargement negotiations

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The enlargement of the European Union has been claimed to be one of the most powerful foreign policy instruments to spread peace and stability in the wider Europe. The EU if often expected to have a responsibility for the broader European region, a responsibility that can be derived from treaty texts and declarations. The effectiveness of the enlargement instrument is dependent on the credibility of the process. This thesis examines the EU Member States? actions in the enlargement Council working group, COELA. A hypothesis about Member States using the accession negotiations as a lever to pursue national interests is supported by the results. A number of bilateral issues between Member States and the two negotiating candidate states, Turkey and Croatia are presented. The study is based on Council working group documents as well as on interviews with Swedish government officials. In the end a wider discuss...