Within enlargement policy, a distinctive feature is pre-accession assistance funding. Although European funds originated at the very beginning of the European integration process, each enlargement round has prompted adaptations in European Union (EU) funding, whose history is closely intertwined with enlargement policy and new EU memberships.

The Palgrave Handbook of European Union Enlargement and Pre-Accession Assistance explores the design, evolution, implementation, and outcomes of pre-accession assistance across multiple enlargement rounds and candidate countries, and offers a unique thematic focus on how pre-accession assistance functioned across time, countries, and political settings.

This pioneering handbook is the first publication to compare past and present recipients of pre-accession assistance, highlighting both similarities and differences in each case study and enabling cross-country comparisons. It critically analyzes how pre-accession assistance instruments both reflected and shaped the broader EU policy architecture and influenced candidate countries' political and developmental trajectories on their path to EU membership.

Demonstrates the overall close connection between EU enlargement and funding throughout the history of the EU Promotes wider knowledge of EU funding mechanisms Aims to support the development of a subfield of research within European Studies: the history of EU funding

Autorentext

Alice Cunha is Assistant Professor with Habilitation in International Relations at the NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal – School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NOVA FCSH), and Researcher at the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI NOVA), where she has worked on European Union Studies, an area in which she has published extensively. Her main research interests are related to enlargement studies, European funds, and Portuguese foreign policy. She is a member of the European Union Liaison Committee of Historians.

Inhalt

Chapter 1 European Union enlargement and pre-accession assistance funding.- Chapter 2 European Union financial assistance and its role in the accession path of Albania.- Chapter 3 Bulgaria's Path to EU Membership: Pre-Accession Assistance and the Challenges of Integration.- Chapter 4 Experience with Implementation of IPA Assistance - Was Croatia a success story?.- Chapter 5 The Socioeconomic Relations between the Republic of Cyprus and the EU before and after Accession.- Chapter 6 The Enlargement of the European Union and Pre-accession Assistance as a Tool for Successful Accession: The Case of the Czech Republic.- Chapter 7 European Union pre-accession assistance to Estonia: outreach and limitations.- Chapter 8 Navigating the Road to EU Accession: Hungary's Experience with Pre-Accession Funds PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD.- Chapter 9 The European Union's Accession Engagement and Pre-Accession Assistance in Kosovo.- Chapter 10 Seed Capital for Europeanization: Latvia and Pre-Accession Assistance.- Chapter 11 A Regatta with Meaningful Assistance: The Lithuanian File on EU Pre-Accession Aid.- Chapter 12 Malta's Uncertain Road to EU Membership and its Impact on Pre-Accession Assistance Funding.- Chapter 13 The Rocky Road of Enlargement and Pre-Accession Assistance for Montenegro.- Chapter 14 Three Decades of Using EU Funds: The Case of North Macedonia.- Chapter 15 Pre-Accession Assistance in Poland.- Chapter 16 Portugal and the Inception of EU Pre-Accession Aid: Economically Driven, with Limited Conditionality.- Chapter 17 EU's Pre-Accession Assistance for Romania: Success and Failure in the Transformation of a Post-Totalitarian Society.- Chapter 18 Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance and Serbia: New ambitions amidst a stronger framework.- Chapter 19 Slovak Experience with European Union Pre-Accession Aid: Conditio sine qua non on the road to EU.- Chapter 20 Pre-Accession Assistance in Building a Functional State: The Case of Slovenia.- Chapter 21 EU Pre-accession Assistance to Turkey: Funding for a Contested Candidate.- Chapter 22 EU pre-accession assistance - towards a more balanced and cohesive EU territory?.