1. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium EU Decisional Process and the EU Accession Negotiations Prof. Dr. Vasile Puca

2. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium Characteristics of decisional process in the E.U. unique combination of national and supranational rules; rooted primarily in “new institutionalism”: historical institutionalism, rational-choice institutionalism and sociological institutionalism; the main three politics are: executive ; legislative ; judicial. there are three competing models of decision-making: intergovernmentalism (with Member States controlling decision-making); pressure politics (with decisions determined by “grass-roots, interest group and parliamentary pressure”); “ elite networks ”.

3. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium Table1: Multi-level EU decision-making (after Nugent, Paterson, Wright, 1999, p. 5)

4. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium often associated with providing political leadership and overseeing the implementation of legislation; the focus is on delegating the decision-making responsibility towards the executive bodies; the EU specialized agencies (for ex.: European Medicines Evaluation Agency) have been given the task of providing expert advice to the Commission, which formally takes decisions; the delegation of decision-making is more likely to happen where doubts about politicians’ commitment to a policy could undermine its effectiveness; the problem of commitments not being credible is likely to be pronounced when there is a conflict between short-run costs and long- run benefits (such as monetary policy). a. Executive Politics: Delegated Decision-Making

5. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium the legislative politics of the EU, especially in the EP, is arguably more closely analogous to that of the US than those of most EU Member States; despite its legislative role, the Council appears to operate in many respects like an international negotiation framework. the EP has had a tendency to form oversized voting coalitions, ostensibly to increase the EP’s influence relative to Council; there is a great debate on how the Council takes decisions; application of different negotiation models. b. Legislative Politics or International Negotiations?

6. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium

7. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium the Commission may choose not to advance a proposal; under co-decision either the EP or the Council can block legislation; under unanimity each member state is a veto player; and under QMV a minority of states can block decisions; the need to accommodate so many veto players in order to adopt a policy led Simon Hix (2008) to characterize the EU’s as a “hyper-consensus system of government”. In the EU there are many veto players

8. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium in the EU, domestic political process of implementation is supervised by the Commission, aided and abetted by societal actors and member states’ governments; the European legal order is much more highly developed than those commonly found among states; one concern is that actors are more able to take advantage of, is the opportunity to challenge national policies under EU law; an increasing number of powerful political actors have tended to make more and better use of litigations in order to challenge the policies which they dislike; the direct implication of Court ruling tends to be narrow, requiring from the Member State governments to accommodate only the specific requirements of the judgment (although the government may extend the implications to other similar circumstances). c. Judicial Politics

9. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium there is a difficulty in reaching agreements in the EU, and that makes implementation important; many EU decisions (in the form of directives) must be incorporated/transposed into national laws before they are translated into practice by national bureaucracies; is concerned with EU’s internal policies, which occur within a legal hierarchy; for some policies (national or EU) taking the decision and implementing it, are essentially the same thing; whether and how implementation (compliance) occurs depends on the preferences of key societal actors and the governments regarding the new obligation relative to the status quo, whether any of those opposed to implementation are “veto players”. d. Implementation of Decisions

10. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium Bilateral ( candidate state - Commission; candidate state-member state, member state-member state); Multilateral - Council; Public diplomacy - public opinion, image of candidate state abroad, public support (”track-two diplomacy”); ”Third party” negotiation - relations with a powerful country in order to influence the nature or speed of negotiation. The format of accession negotiations

11. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium the accession to the EU implies the acceptance of the rights and obligations to the Union and its institutional framework (the acquis communautaire ); the acquis communaitaire is divided into 35 different chapters (for the previous accession negotiations there were 31 chapters), and constitutes the substance of accession negotiations; the content of acquis is non-negotiable; the negotiation is about the timing and conditions of adoption and implementation of the acquis by the applicant country. The Substance of Accession Negotiations

12. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium Negotiation is a central component of national policy-making processes from setting agendas, to determining what issues are to be addressed by policy makers, exploring options, finding solutions and securing needed support from relevant parties in order to ensure that planned policies are sustainable; The European integration process is a product of negotiations; Enlargement process is a political process but was presented as a technical process; The accession negotiation is a political and diplomatic process which influences the international relations, changes the international institutional architecture, also provides diplomats with new options, tools and means, and expands the supranational level with its own interests, rules and constraints. III. Conclusions

13. This Project is funded by the European Union Project implemented by Human Dynamics Consortium Thank you for your time and consideration!