Rethinking Conditionality: Rule of Law and Human Rights in CEE after the Enlargement

Conditionality is one of the main conceptual tools to analyse EU Eastern enlargement. The degree, impact and variation of conditionality in different institutional, political and cultural settings have been assessed in the literature. It has been shown that even in similar settings, the EU conditionality and outcomes varied across the CEE region. The actual effect of the EU push mostly depended on the degree of domestic compliance, actor constellations and possible veto-players. This paper examines conditionality in the post-enlargement era by assessing its role in the Europeanization of new CEE EU member states. It seeks to identify key factors affecting the success of conditionality in a comparative perspective in two areas– rule of law and human rights. This will allow us to test the limits of conditionality, highlighting the key factors leading to positive outcomes of conditionality and compliance.