The influence of EU accession on minorities' status in east central Europe.

• Author: Mungiu-Pippidi, Alina

Abstract

The comparative report analyses the individual cases which constituted the EUROREG project with the aims of: enhancing the existing knowledge on the nature of regional development, mobilization, ethnic minority politicization, and how these are reconfigured by European integration processes; examining how EU regional economic policies in EU member states affect patterns of political participation and economic activity of ethnic minorities, as well as their relations with national majorities, political parties and state administration; examining the ways in which human rights and minority protection policies in CESE accession states alter patterns of local political participation and regional economic activity of ethnic minorities, their relations with national majorities and political parties and state administration and compare the ways in which EU integration affects the regional mobilization and political representation of minorities and majorities, as well as national-ethnic identities and conceptions of 'Europe' in member states and CESE accession countries.

Key words

minorities, EU accession, regional development, minority-majority relations

1. Aim of this paper

1. The aim of this paper is to compare EU accession countries involved in the EUROREG research, following the original objectives set out by the project:

2. To enhance and revise existing knowledge on the nature of regional development, mobilization, ethnic minority politicization, and how these are reconfigured by European integration processes. To examine how EU regional economic policies in EU member states affect patterns of political participation and economic activity of ethnic minorities, as well as their relations with national majorities, political parties and state administration. We also seek to examine how minorities and majorities in regional-local institutions and development projects view their identification with a national or ethnic community, their rights and obligations as citizens of a state, and how they conceptualize 'Europe.'

3. To examine the ways in which human rights and minority protection policies in CESE accession states alter patterns of local political participation and regional economic activity of ethnic minorities, their relations with national majorities and political parties and state administration. We also seek to assess their identification with a national or ethnic community, their rights and obligations as citizens of a state, as well as how they conceptualize 'Europe.'

4. To compare the ways in which EU integration affects the regional mobilization and political representation of minorities and majorities, as well as national-ethnic identities and conceptions of 'Europe' in member states and CESE accession countries.

   These objectives were detailed after a first round of case studies, leading to the main research aims of studying the political and economical effects of European accession on:

1. Minority group identity and mobilization, both at elite and group level

2. Political and economical status of minority groups under study.

3. Minority-majority relations, operationalized as patterns of cooperation, competition and cohabitation.

   As this paper draws on previous work within this project on these cases, it will not reiterate the evidence presented in individual case studies, but further build on it. This paper draws on three kinds of sources for its data:

1. Qualitative research presented in individual case studies by Euroreg authors;

2. National and regional official statistics;

3. Quantitative analysis of public opinion data by the author, using accession countries' Eurobarometer 2003 information, and a Freedom House-Romanian Academic Society 2000 survey.

2. The cases

   The original selection of Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia was based on the good comparability of these countries, particularly that each hosts an important indigenous minority. The European Union invited all three to join only in the second wave of enlargement, at the 1999 Helsinki summit, after considering them politically and economically unfit for the first wave. Furthermore, they share a similar development pattern. For Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia, parting with the heritage of their respective communist systems was more difficult than elsewhere in the region, mostly because they shared the features of late urbanization and recent Communist heavy industrialization.

   In short, all three countries combine an old tradition of rural underdeveloped societies with a recent tradition of high Communist socioeconomic interventionism (the former causing the latter to a large extent). Their traditional political cultures can be qualified as "peasant" of the dependent or parochial type, and by no means autonomous and "urban"--a feature they share with the rest of Eastern Europe (1). Nevertheless, they were considered more "rural" and "backward" even before the advent of Communism. Slovakia, unlike the other two Orthodox countries, is mostly Catholic, and its pre-1914 history belongs with the Habsburg, not the Ottoman Empire. However, its postcommunist transition shared many patterns with the two Eastern Balkans countries, with the salience of nationalism as an electoral campaign theme and of populist economic and social policies. These countries were dominated by leaders such as Ion Iliescu and Vladimir Meciar, seen as authoritarian by the West but were quite popular in their respective countries, and have succeeded their first swings in government later than Central European 'Vishegrad' countries.

   The challengers to these populists were center-right governments quite similar in terms of ideology and background, which can be described as liberal anti-Communist governments, leaning to some extent also towards Christian Democracy in Slovakia and Romania. These center-right governments, however, produced different outcomes. The Slovak government has been spectacularly successful in catching up with the first wave of EU applicants by closing most of the negotiation chapters with the EU in record time, and as such, Slovakia became a full EU member in 2004 while Romania and Bulgaria will only become full members in 2007. Still, all three remain strikingly similar on a variety of issues, most notably with regards to administrative corruption and performance of the judiciary, seen as serious obstacles hindering EU integration in all three countries. Differences in economic performance are striking and obviously rooted in a legacy of development. Slovakia's GDP is higher than both Romania's and Bulgaria's, but the foreign direct investment per capita after a decade of transition places it as low along with the other two countries.

   The three minority inhabited regions compared have also important similarities. The main one is that they are units part of a unitary, not a federal state. Although the three countries can be, by the year of this study, considered consolidated democracies, they have all chosen the unitary, not the federal constitutional arrangement.

   There are three major Muslim minorities in Bulgaria: Turks, Muslim Bulgarians (Pomaks) and Roma Muslims. The Bulgarian case study focused on two compact Muslim groups: Turks living in the Kardzhali district, and Muslim Bulgarians (Pomaks) inhabiting the Smolyan district. Both areas are located in the South-Central Region of Bulgaria near the border of the Republic of Greece. Turks are the largest group in Kardzhali district, representing 61.7% of its population. In several other districts, including Shuman, Turgovishte, Silistra and Razgrad--all located in Northern Bulgaria--Turks represent a sizeable minority and form between 30% and 45% of the population. Small but compact groups of Turks also live in Ruse and Dobrich districts in Northern Bulgaria, Burgas district (along the Black Sea coast), Haskovo district (SE Bulgaria), and Blagoevgrad district (SW Bulgaria). 90 per cent of the Muslim Bulgarians live in the Rhodope Mountains along the Bulgarian-Greek border, while a small number of Pomaks live in several villages around the town of Lovech in Northern Bulgaria. According to the 2001 census, the population of Kardzhali district numbered 164 019 people, of which 101 116 were Turks. As the census did not include a separate category for Muslim Bulgarians, it is a bit difficult to determine the accurate number of Muslim Bulgarians living in the Smolyan district. The total population of Smolyan district is 140 066, of which 122 806 are Bulgarians. Here, Christian Bulgarians number 41 792, people who did not declare their religious affiliation are 39 000, while Muslims in the district number 58 758 people (which includes over 6000 Turks). The number of Muslim Bulgarians can thus be estimated to be between 45 000 and 50 000.

   The border region of Kosice in the southeast part of Slovakia is home to the most numerous and politically significant minority population of about 85,415 ethnic Hungarians, who inhabiting the region together with a Slovak majority (2). The Kosice self-governing region (Kosicky samospravny kraj) is one of the eight self-governing regions in Slovakia, and consists of 439 self-governing communities (obec) from which 17 have the status of town. Due to the dual model of the territorial administration in Slovakia, the same area is also a state administration unit--Kosice region (Kosicky kraj) and consists of six territorial districts (Kosice, Kosice--okolie, Michalovce, Roznava, Spisska Nova Ves and Trebisov). The precise area inhabited by the Hungarian minority forms about 50 km broad strip along the state's border with Hungary. This is a territory with a troubled history (3), and which has fuelled many nationalistic passions. The Romanian case study focuses on the Hungarian minority from the Central development region (DR 7) (4) of Romania. The surface of this region is 34,099.4 square km, or 14.3% of the territory of the country, and its total population is 2,523,021...