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The European Union: A Framework for

Imperialism?
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Sorin R Pavel
1st of December 2010

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ABSTRACT: The internal reform and enlargement triggered a major debate on

the order of the European Union and the place of its core states, the paper
will analyse whether the supra-national institution is becoming a framework in
the interests of the core, large and developed countries, via which they exert
pressure and enforces their agenda over the smaller and newly ascended
states. The results of our analysis suggests that at a first glance the EU has
imperialistic tendencies but these can be interpreted as part of the
evolutionary process of the institution as well as part of the shortcomings of
the democratic process.

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KEY WORDS: The European Union, Imperialism, Europeanization, EU Politics

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Introduction

Talks on The European Union are something that you will find on every

newscast; it is a process that affects all aspect our life on a day-to-day basis,

a subject that has yet to be consummated and is showing no signs that it will

be anytime soon. The paper at hand will closely look at the political

machinery behind the EU, analysing whether the policies of the union are

imperialistic, investigating whether the supra-national institution is becoming

a framework in the interests of the core, large and developed countries, via
The  European  Union  -­‐  a  framework  for  imperialism?  

which they exert pressure and enforces their agenda over the smaller and

newly ascended states. Furthermore, the essay will be analysing if

Europeanization, the process that is driving the union, is a propaganda model

for manufacturing consent and disseminating unilateral drive.

The essay is structured into four parts. Firstly, a summary of what is

the EU, discussing the link between statecraft, the way in which the union is

not a nation in the traditional sense, but “looks, acts and feels like one”.

Additionally the paper will look at causality, the process of various footsteps

that the EU in its present form had to undertake. Secondly, the essay will

attempt to define the concepts of imperialism and Europeanization by

outlining the classical definitions, and by considering them in the current

institutional framework. Thirdly, a case study investigation on Imperialism, the

section will analyse policies that suggest the manufacturing of consent and

neo colonialism, specifically the enlargement process - the ascension of

Central and East-European States and the relation with Turkey. Fourthly, we

will present the conclusion of our analysis.

Summary on The European Union

The European Union is unlike any other body out there; it is an

institution of novel, but it is not a nation in the traditional sense, nevertheless

it “look, acts and feels like one”. The Montevideo Convention of 1933, (Article

1, League of Nations Series No. 881), cited in Borneman et al (1997, p.492)

defines the criteria of statehood as having (a) a permanent population, (b) a

defined territory, (c) government, and (d) the capacity to enter into relations

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with other states. According to the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992 (Article 1.

Treaty on European Union) its funders define the EU as following:

“By this Treaty, the High Contracting Parties establish among themselves a
European Union, hereinafter called ‘the Union’. This Treaty marks a new stage
in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe,
in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen.”

(Treaty on European Union, 1992)

Thus the member states do not regard the new body a state, but rather “a

union”, which according to Weiler in De Beus (2001, p.290) has no fixed

meaning.

Causality, the process of various footsteps, generated from a

particular cause or problem, through which the EU in its present form had to

undertake, advocates that the institution should not be defined as a nation,

even if, arguably, meets all the requirements, but as a process. Wilson in

Borneman et al (1997, p.498) argues that the process is a “new type of socio-

political configuration”. It is Europe’s reaction to its own belligerent past, a

set of steps initiated with the Treaty of Paris of 1951, establishing the

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), followed by the Treaty of Rome

of 1957, creating both the European Economic Community (EEC) and

the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), merging in 1967

into the European Community (EC), resulting in the Treaty of Maastricht

of 1992. The importance in emphasizing these steps is significant because it

shows how the “union” evolves from treaty to treaty by passing sovereignty

from the national to the supranational creating an ever-changing body that is

a process of ‘cause and effect’. This process is intertwined and overlapped

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The  European  Union  -­‐  a  framework  for  imperialism?  

with the concept Europeanization and is sine qua non for the European

Union.

Defining  Imperialism  and  Europeanization  

Coming to the question of imperialism, it is defined according to

Johnston (2000, p.375), as a modus operandi that creates and maintains an

unequal relationship - economic, cultural and territorial between states and

frequently in the form of an empire based on domination and subordination; it

is considered as a primarily western concept that employs "expansionist –

mercantilist and latterly communist – systems." Nevertheless there is a

further manner of considering imperialism, which ties in with both European

policy making and the concept of Europeanization, The Underdevelopment

and World Systems Theory. Kiely (2010, p.11) argues that core or

metropolitan states advance by under-developing the states that constitute

their periphery, consequently, some countries expand at the disbursement of

others in a “zero-sum game.” Subsequently the criticism that is brought

forward is that European countries have “colonized” other European countries.

Also there is another layer that refers to “domestic” European imperialism, this

aspect refers to manufacturing consent or the propaganda model, Chomsky et

al (2002, p.2); the argument is that individuals and organizations of the media

are influenced to shape the social agendas of knowledge and, therefore belief

expanding the classical argument of Marx that “The ideas of the ruling class

are in every epoch the ruling ideas”. Thus the criticism comes in the form of

Europeanization being perceived as an imposed ideology.

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Subsequently the analysis raises the question on what is defined by

Europeanization. Edmund Burke once stated, “No European can be a

complete exile in any part of Europe” (cited in Hay 1957, p.123), the basic

premise of this statement is that there is a sense of identity that has been

created, not just from a social level, but also from a political and institutional

one, between states that are part of the European continent, and, also that

the individual person can effortlessly recognize and relate to them.

Europeanization is the practice that drives the above-mentioned premise,

Borneman et al (1997, p.488) argues that it is an “accelerated” process as

well as a set of effects that have and are redefining the forms of identification

of territory and citizens being correlated to the institutional and administrative

power of the European Union.

Analysis on Imperialism and Neo Colonialism

Monnet’s rule of law, cite in Duchene (1994, p.140) states that

“equality is absolutely essential in relations between nations, as it is between

people” as a process Europeanization leads to the next logical enquiry, are

all nations equal, or treated equally, do citizens from members states

conceive their relationship with other citizens from different states as being

equal. De Beus (2001, p.284) argues that, “that the simultaneity of internal

reform and enlargement triggered a major debate on the constitutional order

of the European Union and the place of its core states”. Weiler argues that:

"It would be ironic if a polity set up as a means to counter the excesses of

statism ended up coming around full circle and transforming itself into a
(super)state. It would be equally ironic if the ethos which rejected the
boundary abuse of the nation-state gave birth to a polity with the same
potential for abuse". (Weiler 1999, p.250)

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The debate here is on how some of the policies and decisions of The

European Union seem to have imperialistic tendencies - neo colonialism and

the manufacturing of consent.

According to Barber et. Al (2009, p.381), the collective element

between the perception of the EU as an “empire/civilizer” with that of the EU

as a “normative power” is that between the EU and neighbouring states there

is a well-defined hierarchical relation, where the latter play the role of passive

policy recipients of Europeʼs “policy output”. There is no grater example of

this, than with the 2004 and 2007 eastern enlargement waves, the accession

of Romania and Bulgaria being the more predominant case of neo

colonialism. The allure of single market, the Euro, equal rights with other

member states, freedom of movement and freedom to work, created by

Europeanization, has shaped the belief that it is better to be part than to be

away, which in most circumstances is a valid assumption, but looking at the

outcome of the accession of these states, by being granted discriminatory

membership, as Schneider argues (2007 p.86), suggests otherwise.

Borneman et al (1997, p.469) argued, in 1997, that “all East-Central

Europeans are in the difficult position of second cousins with lesser rights”,

this has not changed, while the members of the first eastern wave are treated

with a “higher” degree of “equality”, the newest members, Romania and

Bulgaria are not. According to the BBC (2009) most of the EU states have

imposed or still impose restriction towards the access to labour for the

former communist states. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Ireland

have in place a series of tight restriction against workers from the newly

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integrated states while France, Italy, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Greece,

Portugal, Spain and the UK have made efforts to either lift the sanctions or

simplify them. The only EU countries to not impose restrictions were Sweden

and Finland.

In regards to the above mentioned, Schneider (2007, pp.91-97) argues

three things, (a) EU states decline to grant full membership to external states

if the benefits from the admission of non-members do not counterweigh for the

declining gains in their “favourite policy” (b) the outsider prefers restricted

entrance or a “redistribution” between the EU members to non-membership

and qualified membership (c) present members desire to admit wealthier

states, to avoid “strains” on the common budget.

Another important component of the imperialism argument stands in

the form of the “awkward” relations between Turkey and the EU. According

to Yesilada (2002, p.101), despite its geographical position, the Turkish state

is from a legal standpoint a European state. Since the end of Second World

War, Turkey joined all the suitable European inter-governmental institutions –

in 1948 the OECD, in 1949 the Council of Europe, in 1952 NATO, and, as an

associate member, in 1963, the EEC. The question that naturally follows is

why has it not been accepted yet – although, according to Redmond (2010,

p.310) and Yesilada (2002, p. 95) the Turgut Ozal government applied for

membership in 1987, making their application the longest in the history of the

union. Moreover, and very important to note, it preceded all of the countries

that joined the EU in 1995, 2004 and 2007 and according to Yesilada (2002,

p.95) as far as they were concerned weaker democracies and economies

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such as Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania were included. Redmond argues on

this that:

“There remains a school of thought within [The EU] which the country is
seen as an outsider of the European mainstream, condemned to irresolvable
differences from its western neighbours on historical, religious and cultural
grounds.” (Redmond 2007, p.306)

It is clear that Turkey does have some serious issues that can arguably raise

question to her candidacy, problems such as the human right issues

regarding the treatment of Kurdish citizens, the military’s involvement in

politics and government and the rise of certain Islamic fundamentalist

groupings. But these do not completely justify why it has not been allowed

to join, moreover, the decision at the Luxemburg summit of 1997 to allow the

Greek side of Cyprus to join was done with complete disregard of

international treaties covering the establishment of the Cyprus Republic

furthermore shows an imperialistic agenda and unequal relations between

the parties. The decision, in fact, was according to Yesiliada (2002, pp.95-98)

noting more than an apparent victory for Greece, by threatening to block the

entire enlargement process if Cyprus is excluded from the list, Greece forced

Greek position to the forefront of the EU’s enlargement agenda. Also, after

being included on the candidacy list in 1999, accession talks were not

adopted and, in spite of this it was required to adopt the Acquis although no

other country is required to meet the EU’s Acquis prior to the start of

accession talks (process).

Concluding, requiring Turkey to comply with all the numerous entrance

criteria and conditions before they can join the EU is both unjust and

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inconsistent with previous practice, and according to Redmond (2007, p.316)

“there are arguably some longer-standing EU members that still do not comply

completely with all the requirements that aspiring members have to meet”.

Thus the decision not to allow Turkey to join by raising the bar each time is a

discriminatory and political decision, although there are domestic problems

within, the EU has grown big enough to handle both Turkeyʼs economy and its

population.

Conclusion

To sum up, the domestic analysis behind the enlargement and the

relationship with Turkey seem, at a first glance, to suggest that the EU is

acting in an imperialistic manner. The core states are exerting pressure on

one level or another on the newly accepted, and that Europeanization is

being perceived, at times, as a propaganda model for the manufacturing of

consent by preaching values and norms that the core makers do not uphold

themselves.

The answer to this, from a realist perspective, is that nation states and

not international organizations are the key actors in international relations.

The problem, uncovered in the analysis of the EU, is that at this point the

union has developed into something more, not a state, but not the

organization it was first set up to be. The paper argues that this halfway

evolution makes the analysis whether it acts imperialist or not extremely

difficult to judge – national democracies will always act in the short run,

protecting the immediate interests of their countries, government, and

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peoples. Historically, this self-interest has always been countered, the union

has raised the standard and created a framework for development.

Avenues for Further Research

The question of EU imperialism is a very challenging topic and the

current paper is only a small part of the investigation, the 2000 words used

are not enough to cover the whole spectrum of both theory and case study.

A future essay on the topic should analyse in more depth (a) the theoretical

aspect - a more in-depth interpretation of The Underdevelopment and World

Systems Theory and of Europeanization, and (b) the case study analysis –

firstly a more in-depth investigation on Imperialism and Neo Colonialism by

analyzing the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) in the newly accepted

states, secondly an analysis on the distribution of voting power between

states, pre/post Lisbon Treaty, and thirdly an inquiry into the Democratic

Deficit Theory.

 
   

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