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Abstract
This paper examines the conditionality in relation to fundamental rights during and after the visa liberalisation dialogues that took place between the European Commission and national governments of the Western Balkans countries in 2009 and 2010. Conceptually, this paper uses the visa liberalisation to study the interactions between the conditionality mechanism and securitisation paradigm in the context of the European Union (EU) justice, freedom and security area. Analysing both the formal benchmarking process and data from stakeholders’ interviews, this paper demonstrates the securitisation and side-lining of fundamental rights during and in the aftermath of the visa negotiations. As a result, this paper informs of unwanted effects of conditionality and questions the role of the EU in promoting fundamental rights.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Funding
This work was supported by funding from the CITSEE project (The Europeanisation of Citizenship in the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia), based at the University of Edinburgh, UK. CITSEE is funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme [ERC grant number 230239], and the support of the ERC is acknowledged with thanks.
Notes
1 Council Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement in (EC) No. 539/2001: Official Journal of the European Communities.
2 Council Regulation (EC) No. 1244/2009 of 30 November 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement in (EC) No. 1244/2009: Official Journal of the European Communities.
Regulation (EU) No. 1091/2010 of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 November 2010 amending Council Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement in (EU) No. 1091/2010.
3 Council Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement in (EC) No. 539/2001: Official Journal of the European Communities.
4 The Road maps for visa liberalisation are available at http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=352.
5 For an overview of all benchmarks in this block, please see the next section.
6 For the purposes of this paper, I have conducted 12 open-ended interviews with civil servants and civil society representatives engaged in the visa liberalisation process during 2012.
7 Its importance was linked also to the visa-free status enjoyed by the citizens of former Yugoslavia during the times of the Federation.
8 The Visa Road maps, Schengen White List project and European Stability Initiative are available at http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=352.
9 These benchmarks were part of all the road maps for the five countries negotiating the visa-free travel.
10 Author's interview with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania, March 2012; Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Belgrade, March 2012.
11 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Belgrade, March 2012, Author's interview with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia in Skopje, January 2012.
12 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative, Brussels October 2010.
13 Author's interview with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, March 2012; Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Belgrade, March 2012.
14 Author's interview with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia in Skopje, January 2012.
15 In addition, the EU's demands on implementing the Roma Strategies and Action Plans of these countries were at times included, but due to space constraints they were not analysed in this paper. Both the document and interview data point to the low importance assigned to these topics in the process as well.
16 For an assessment of other benchmarks of block four see: Kacarska (Citation2012).
17 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Belgrade, March 2012.
18 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Skopje, January 2012.
19 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Sarajevo, March 2012.
20 Sejdic and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Application nos. 27996/06 and 34836/06, 22 December 2009. Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights.
21 Author's interview with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania, March 2012.
22 Council Regulation (EC) No. 1244/2009 of 30 November 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No. 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement in (EC) No. 1244/2009: Official Journal of the European Communities.
23 Author's interview with a EU expert in Kosovo, May 2012.
24 EU approves the road map for Kosovo, 30 May 2012. INFO GLOBI [Online]. Available at http://eng.infoglobi.com/index.php/kosovo/art/4944 (accessed 2 June 2012).
25 Author's interview with a EU expert in Kosovo, May 2012.
26 Author's interview with a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania, March 2012.
27 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Belgrade, March 2012.
28 Art. 1(1), Emergency Ordinance no. 112 Referring to the Punishment of Some Action Committed.
Abroad by Romanian Citizens or by Person Without Citizenship Residing in Romania, 30 August 2001.
29 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Belgrade, March 2012.
30 Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia No. 39/2011.
31 Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Macedonia (Citation2011)
32 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Belgrade, March 2012.
33 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Sarajevo, March 2012.
34 Author's interview with a civil society organisation representative in Sarajevo, March 2012. Author's interview with a civil servant in the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees in Sarajevo, March 2012.
35 See Macedonian Young Lawyers Association News, ‘The Basic Court Skopje 2 Rendered The First Judgment In Republic Of Macedonia Which Determinates Discrimination', 29 May 2014, available at http://www.myla.org.mk/index.php/en/news/135-press-release-29-05-2014 (accessed 10 September 2014).