This text deals with croatian admission process to the EU. The objective is to find out whether Croatia meets political part of the Copenhagen criteria. First part is concerned with croatian political developement since the break-up of Yugoslavia. Second part deals with EU approach to the region of Western Balkan concerning process of enlargement and association. Last part describes admission negotiations between Croatia and EU including assessment of meeting political part of Copenhagen criteria.

Negotiations between the EU and the candidate countries in the Western Balkans have been dragging on for almost two decades. Until an official decision has been made on who can join the EU and when, actors at different levels have been working together within various programmes with the aim of advancing content-related harmonisation and fulfilling requirements for accession. In one of these programmes, Interreg ADRION, transnational cooperation plays an important supporting role for the possibility of Western Balkan countries to learn the practices and rules within EU projects. This thesis deals with the experiences of the project participants within this programme. Furthermore, the experiences are examined in terms of possible learning effects as well as the potential impact of Europeanization within the institutions and organisations of the programme members.

Serbia is said to enter the European Union (EU) in 2025 and a criteria for inclusion in the EU are the Copenhagen criteria’s. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the EU as an external and international actor acts to further the implementation of the first Copenhagen criteria concerning democratic institutions, the rule of law, human rights and protection of minorities. Through a qualitative theory consuming study this thesis investigates the EUs aims and actions in Serbia, a country outside the boards of the EU by applying a theoretical framework based on Lawrence Whiteheads theory on international dimensions of democratization. As a result the thesis finds that the European Union has an interest in democracy promotion in Serbia as defined in the Copenhagen criteria. The EU uses several different methods such as economic aid, learning resources, diplomacy and normative contagion to attain its purpose. But the true reason behind the EUs interest is Serbia is discussed among scholars as well as the effective ways of implementing EUs strategies and the development of sanctions against states that do not comply with the democratic values of the Copenhagen criteria.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuotas Serbijos integracijos į ES procesas, pateikta Serbijos ekonominės ir politinės padėties apžvalga. Įvertintas Serbijos pasiruošimas tapti ES nare atsižvelgiant į Europos Komisijos nuomonę, ES iškeltų sąlygų vykdymą ir dabartinę ekonominę ir politinę padėtį. Pateikta Serbijos visuomenės paramos ES charakteristika, išanalizuota visuomenės požiūrio kaita į eurointegraciją. Pirmojoje dalyje teoriniu aspektu apžvelgiama ES raida, įvertinama sėkmingos jos plėtros istorija ir būsima perspektyva. Pateikiamos ES narystės sąlygos ir procedūros, išskiriamos specifinės sąlygos ir pereinamieji etapai, kurie taikomi tik Vakarų Balkanų valstybėms siekiančioms narystės ES. Antroje dalyje pristatoma Vakarų Balkanų istorijos genezė, Serbijos, kaip pagrindinės regiono valstybės vaidmuo politiniame, ekonominiame ir kultūriniame regiono vystymesi, akcentuojamas Jugoslavijos dezintegracijos procesas ir nesėkmingas jo valdymas iš ES pusės. Trečioje dalyje analizuojama Serbijos politinė ir ekonominė transformacija, bei siekiai tapti ES nare. Aptariamos ES sąlygos Serbijai ir jų vykdymas kuomet šaliai vadovavo skirtingos vyriausybės. Analizuojamas ir vertinamas Serbijos pasirengimas tapti ES nare remiantis ES ataskaitomis dėl Serbijos ekonomikos, politinės padėties ir Europos standartų atitikimo. Ketvirtoje dalyje pateikiamas, analizuojamas ir lyginamas Serbijos gyventojų pasiskirstymas ES klausimais, rezultatų kaita ir jų priežastys. Šioje dalyje aptarti... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Master thesis analyzes Serbian EU integration process, reveals the political and economic status of Serbia. It also examines the situation in Serbia in terms of the political, economic criteria and the ability to take on the obligations of membership. Thesis also compares and analyzes Serbia‘s public polls researches towards EU integration. The first chapter of the Master thesis describes the research of the EU enlargement and integration genesis, describes the process of new member integration process and conditions, also states and anlyses the specific conditions of membership for Western Balkan countries. The second chapter presents full overview of the political conditions of former Yugoslavia, particular emphasis is placed on the process of disintegration of Yugoslavia, and on the failure of EU to prevent the conflicts in the region. The third chapter examines Serbia‘s political and economic transformation and ability to apply for EU membership. It also analyzes the position of different governments of Serbia on EU integration process. The last chapter analyzes public opinion on EU integration. The last part of the work analyzes specific conditions given from EU which influences public polls.

The purpose of the study was to examine how the EU's ambition is to diffuse norms, as a normative power, within the instrument Pre-accession Assistance II during 2014-2020 in the region of the Western Balkans. The study was conducted with a qualitative theory-consuming case study together with a theoretical framework by Tuomas Forsberg (2011) which is based on the theory of Normative Power Europe. The results of the study showed that the EU has high ambitions to spread the Union's fundamental values through IPA II to the Western Balkans.