Europeanization and the Southern Periphery by Kevin Featherstone & George Kazamias

Author:Kevin Featherstone & George Kazamias [Featherstone, Kevin & Kazamias, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, International Relations, General
ISBN: 9780714681283
Google: OlPPHSGZ5GkC
Goodreads: 11747945
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2001-01-15T09:05:12+00:00

Cyprus and the Onset of Europeanization: Strategic Usage, Structural Transformation and Institutional Adaptation

KEVIN FEATHERSTONE

INTRODUCTION

A glance at the literature available on Cyprus might suggest that this was an island of interest only for its past and for its complex security position. Yet as a small state in the throes of negotiating its accession to the EU, Cyprus presents an intriguing focus for a study of the process of Europeanization, the subject of this volume. As a small state, the accession negotiations emphasize the huge disparity in structural power between the applicant and the EU, highlighting the force of the external pressure on domestic adjustment processes. Indeed, it has often seemed that the EU’s stance towards Cyprus (and the other current applicants) has been one of 'take it or leave it', stressing that the economic and social adjustment process will be on terms firmly set by Brussels. The Cyprus case has the additional aspect of a unique security conundrum, consequent on the Turkish occupation of more than a third of the island. Nicosia is the last divided capital in Europe and overcoming the division of the entire island, while appeasing Turkey, poses a major test of the EU’s ability to engineer reconciliation on its doorstep. The EU’s relations with Cyprus thus cannot be disentangled from this multidimensional chess game, and on all sides there are careful calculations of the strategic implications of engaging the EU in the island’s fate. Moreover, the ‘low politics’ of the Cyprus application also have distinctive features. As a small state seeking to accede to an organization with an extensive and highly developed system of regulation, the process of institutional adaptation can appear mammoth. The obligations of the acquis communautaire require a major revision of the operation and competencies of the state administration.

Against this background, Europeanization is applied here to the domestic impact of the EU in three major areas:

(1)

the pattern of discourse (specifically, the EU’s role in the strategic calculations of potential gains by key actors);

(2)

the structure of state-economy relations (highlighting the transformative effects of EU obligations and their significance, e.g. in relation to financial markets and EMU); and

(3)

the operation of the state administration (gauging the adaptation of institutional processes to new demands such as coordination, and the effects on institutional competencies).

The following sections consider each of these aspects in turn, addressing the themes noted. In each of these areas, important processes of domestic adjustment are occurring, with manifold implications for Cypriot society.1 Overall, the Cyprus case suggests that the significance of the Europeanization process may be more starkly illustrated by reference to the pressures evident on states outside the EU than on states at the very centre of the EU.

The background to the Cyprus application is one of a slow, conditional path to the EU. With Cyprus’ largest market, Britain, joining the then EC in 1973, an Association Agreement was established between Cyprus and the Community in the same year. This provided for a customs union in two stages and within a period of ten years.

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