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Current stage of the process of enlargement of the European Union
HANZLOVÁ, Tereza
The aim of my bachelor thesis is to present the process of enlargement of the European Union with a view to the pre-accession instruments used to help the associated country to enter the union, as well as to present these associated countries so called candidate and potential candidate countries. My thesis is divided into six chapters. The first one describes briefly the history of expansion of the European Communities and the European Union. The second one is about the enlargement process in general. The two following chapters depict the pre-accession instruments {--} political, juridical and financial used to support the efforts of the associated countries. Finally the last two chapters present in detail the candidate and the potential candidate countries.
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Comparison of the political and economic indicators of selected Balkan countries in context of efforts to join EU
Paule, Marek ; Ševčíková, Michaela (advisor) ; Štěpánek, Pavel (referee)
The aim of the work is to comparate readiness of selected Balkan states for membership in European Union. I will target the former Republic of Macedonia, which has already been granted candidate status in 2005 and the Serbia and the Montenegro, which have the status of potentional candidates. The first section will focus on historical context, which effect the current political and economic situation. In the second part, I will make comparison of selected Balkan states in implementation of economic kriteria (particuraly the GDP, GDP growth rate, GDP per capita, unemployment, functioning market economy) and political criteria (human rights, democratic government, rule of law), which are part Copenhagen criteria for EU accession. Finally, I appraise the results of the comparison of the indicators listed above and recommend the time when these countries could be accepted.
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The NATO enlargement as the determinant of the relationship with the Russian Federation
Čížková, Tereza ; Knotková, Vladimíra (advisor) ; Cibulková, Petra (referee)
This thesis deals with the issue of the influence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisa-tion on the relationships with the Russian Federation. The first part pursues the cir-cumstances that were brought by the end of the Cold War and the discussion about the NATO's future regarding the enlargement aspect. The second part examines the development after the millennium and the next enlargement round including the Baltic States. The third part analyzes the possible access of Georgia and Ukraine to the NATO and the Russian attitude toward this matter. Simultaneously, it outlines the theoretical scenario -- the Russian Federation as the NATO's membership candidate.
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Accession process of Turkey to The European Union
Řezanková, Alena ; Adámková, Vlasta (advisor) ; Tunkrová, Věra (referee)
The bachelor thesis focuses on the process of Turkey's preparations for possible accession to The European Union and puts emphasis on the current situation. The first chapter explains the economic development of Turkey since 2004 till today and mentions events that caused the accession negotiations to open. The second part of the thesis concentrates on the negotiations itself, illustrates arrangements Turkey has made and describes whether it meets the requirements of The European Commission regarding the implementation of acquis. The paper also provides an overview of the dissimilarities between Turkey and The EU which result in considerable obstacles to the progress of the negotiations.
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Bulgaria and Romania: Economic Assessment of the EU Accession and Impact of the Global Financial Crisis
Kačmařík, Lukáš ; Abrhám, Josef (advisor) ; Bič, Josef (referee)
Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007 and are so far the last countries to do so. Before this important step, both countries had undergone a long way of economic transformation from planned to free market economy. The transformation began in the early 1990s but so far it has not been finished. Compared to the other Central and Eastern European countries, Bulgaria and Romania still belong to the least developed ones, which is probably the most important reason why these countries did not join the EU in May 2004 together with other Central and Eastern European countries, but almost three years later, in January 2007. The thesis, however, focuses mainly on what happened after January 2007 and aims at analyzing the first years of Bulgaria and Romania in the enlarged European Union and discuss also possible effects of the upcoming economic and financial crisis on both countries. The subject matter of the thesis is divided into three main chapters, accompanied by introduction and summary of main conclusions. First part (Chapter 2) focuses in detail on the process of economic transformation in both countries, on the summarization of the pre-accession period and on the challenges both countries were facing at that time. Main focus here is on the home economy, foreign economic relations and home affairs including current political situation. Analysis of pre-accession negotiations with the EU focuses both on general issues and also on detailed monitoring of the whole process by the European Commission. Second part (Chapter 3) analyzes in detail the first years of Bulgaria and Romania in the EU. The chapter opens with analysis of nominal convergence and fulfillment of Maastricht criteria and continues with real and structural convergence, analysis of external balances and integration of product and financial markets. Labor mobility, structural aid, development of business environment and main challenges for both economies are discussed as well. Third part (Chapter 4) focuses on the latest development and shows the effects of the current economic and financial crisis on Bulgarian and Romanian economies. The chapter discusses development of short term economic indicators and tries to assess the actual impact of the crisis and macroeconomic development in 2009 and 2010. This is, however, extremely difficult due to persisting uncertainty and absence of robust economic predictions. The analysis thus suffers from unavailability of relevant and up-to-date information and economic data.
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The impact of the Phenomenon of Enlargement on the Legislative procedure in European Union
Midulová, Katarína ; Klíma, Michal (advisor) ; Faturová, Marie (referee)
The thesis evaluates legislation procedure of the European Union, its dynamics and effectiveness in regard to enlargement. The aim of this thesis is to assess to what extent the decision-making procedure got complicated and whether it is necessary to reform the whole system as a consequence of new members' adhesion. This paper focuses on current decision-making rules as well as the changes which brought this procedure to this status -- the reform activity during 1990s. The purpose of these reforms along with other aims was to prepare the EU institutions for the biggest enlargement they have ever experienced. These changes proved to be what helped to eliminate the consequences which could the new members with diverse priorities bring to the decision-making process. In spite of worries which preceded the Eastern enlargement, the institutions continue to work well, however, their workload has increased and there is a widespread belief that the next enlargement requires more reforms.
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