Minority rights, the Roma, and neoliberal reform in EU accession

Abstract

After the dissolution of the Soviet bloc, joining the European Union was a top priority for most East European countries. To join the EU, the Copenhagen Membership Criteria required that candidate countries develop stable democratic institutions, establish the rule of law, defend human rights, and ensure the protection of minorities in addition to creating free markets. While the EU was extraordinarily successful in promoting economic criteria for membership in minute and fundamental ways, its record of using the incentive of membership as a way of promoting and protecting minority rights was much more mixed, especially for the diverse Roma population.