THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL ADAPTATION AND THE IMPETUS OF THE  ACCESSION PROCESS TO ITS IMPROVEMENT

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46763/SCGW24292s

Keywords: Fundamental values, crisis, sanctions, enlargement, constitutional reform.

In the context of the accession of the Western Balkans to the EU, which geopolitical challenges have

recently pushed to completion, the defence of fundamental European values and the institutional principles,

that are their expression, is becoming increasingly urgent. A new commitment has emerged on the part of

the European Union to reassert its unity and its responsiveness to welcome the new candidates, imposing a

revision of the institutional system within which enlargement must take place. The eastward enlargement

of 2004-2005, based on conditional rules, imposing respect for democracy and the rule of law, already

revealed that the deepening of the EU's constitutional set-up cannot be separated from the opening of the

negotiations with potential new members. Indeed, the absence of clear rules governing the entry of new

States, which would, for their part, undertake to respect the obligations arising from European law, on the

one hand, and the presence of an incomplete apparatus of sanctions for cases of violation of these

obligations, on the other hand, would impede the orderly development of the integration process. As will be

seen, reaffirming that respect for fundamental values within the meaning of Article 2 TEU constitutes a

primary, non-negotiable and mandatory obligation, especially at the time of enlargement, is of absolute

importance, and it is equally important that this obligation be promptly guaranteed by political and

jurisdictional remedies of a punitive nature. On the contrary, a disengagement on such issue would

undermine the credibility of the European project whose historical and ideological significance is based on

an identity common to European nations.

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