Supranational and intergovernmental approach to the accession process of Montenegro to the European Union

Abstract

The volume deals with the analysis of the relationship of the two dominant theoretical approaches of European integration - supranational and intergovernmental - towards the EU enlargement policy on the example of the accession process of Montenegro. The research goes into depth by analysing not the complex accession process as such, but the relations and attention of various European institutions and the EU member states to the particular and deliberately selected negotiation chapters of the Acquis Communautaire. The main aim of the thesis is to find out to what extent and whether at all does the behaviour of the EU institutions and its member states by the accession process correspond with the internal structure of the EU policies and competences stipulated in the EU treaties. The thesis succeeded to show that there is no reason to believe that the activities of the supranational institutions of the EU - the Commission and the Parliament - are dominant by chapter which is closely connected to the exclusive competence of the EU or that they would pay any special attention to this chapter. Similarly, there is no explicit proof that the activities of the incumbent EU member states are dominant by chapter which is closely connected to the shared competence of the EU or that they would pay any...