Özet:

The European Union (EU), which was established for the restoration of peace and prosperity after the Second World War, increased its members to 15 after the 1973, 1981, 1986 and 1995 enlargements. The EU, which included Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in 2004 and 2007 through the political conditionality and external incentive model, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, became a regional and global actor, including 28 countries following the Croatia's membership in 2013. After the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the Union commenced some initiatives, such as the establishment of peace making and stability in the Balkans, reconstruction and confront the past for the region. The EU initiated the candidacy perspective to the Western Balkan countries at the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit. In this article, we examined which discourses, for what causes, and which legitimization tools were used by the Union in its enlargement policy comparatively for the Western Balkans and CEE cases. For this purpose, content analysis of the Enlargement Strategy Papers, Summit Declarations, and Parliamentary Decisions are conducted through the pragmatic, political-ethical and moral approaches, modelled by Sjursen in a deductive method. It is observed that pragmatic discourses have been dominated over the possible gains of enlargement for both regions. Nevertheless, CEE enlargement is framed by a historical and political responsibility that would end the division; Western Balkan enlargement is legitimized as the way to create peace and stability through the spread of European norms & values and opportunities originated from the geographical location. 

Anahtar Kelimeler: