The European Union's soft power: the enlargement process and the Republic of Macedonia

Abstract

The primary motive to this research is the specific form of soft power the EU use in its policy, especially the enlargement policy. Thus, over comprehensive analyze of its policy, researching the previous experiences in this field, the ongoing process with the candidate members, and using the method of case study with the Republic of Macedonia in particular, we can see closer how the soft power works in this part of its policy and in which forms it is expressed. According to the research and the results, we could see the differences between the other power of the EU used in its policy, and the specific form of soft power used in the Enlargement policy. This type of power is collocated of various elements such as Copenhagen criteria, progress reports and for the very first in the case with the Republic of Macedonia is launched the High Level Accession Dialogue. Despite the complicated process and endless framework followed by the slow development in the state policy, the survey results with positive public opinion on the sole enlargement process and the EU membership.