MINELRES: New JEMIE Article: The Limits of EU Conditionality: Minority Rights in Slovakia

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: William MCKinney <mckinney@ecmi.de>


New Special Focus Article in JEMIE

Topidi, Kyraki (2003). The Limits of EU Conditionality: Minority Rights
in Slovakia.
JEMIE Special Focus 1/2003 
http://www.ecmi.de/jemie/download/Focus1-2003_Topidi.pdf

This article discusses the impact of EU conditionality on minority
rights in Slovakia from a legal point of view. The study of the Slovak
case demonstrates the visibility and degree of the EU's contribution to
the stabilization of the rule of law, democracy and the creation of
legislation on the protection of ethnic minorities in one of the most
complex of the transition states. At the same time, the author argues
that despite the propagation of some ambitious laws in Slovakia, the
EU's contribution has had a limited effect on shaping the attitude of
Slovak society towards minority rights. Both the formulation of
'recommendations' and criticisms by the EU and the 'responses' emanating
from Slovakia in terms of norms and policy are examined. The author
concludes that the role of the EU in monitoring Slovakia's performance
in protecting minority rights has suffered both from an unclear strategy
and structural deficiencies, which have subsequently been embedded in
Slovakia's domestic legal profile on minority issues.