The europeanization of foreign policy issues: The cases of Greece and southern Cyprus administration

The issue of Europeanization has recevied a wide scholarly attention in studies on foreign policies. Although various definitions for the term of Europeanization have been suggested in the literature, this study understands it as a process in which member states or candidate states adopts the rules and norms that have been developed at the EU level. While there is a symmetrical relationship between the member states and the EU, the relations between the EU and candidate countries are asymmetrical since the latter do not take place in the decision-making process of the EU. Unlike the candidate countries, the member countries of the EU participate negotations among the member states, and they can make use of their capacity of barganing in achieving their foreign policy objectives. Thus, in the presence of an unsolved foreign policy issue between a member state and candidate state, the former tends to carry the issue to the level of the EU; thereby, aiming at pressuring on the candidate countries that are obliged to comply with the EU rules and norms for the sake of EU membership. Following this theoretical explanation, this study examines Greek and Suuthern Cypriots efforts to take their problems with Turkey to the EU level with the aim of solving the problems by enjoying the support of the EU, which has a noticable capacity for influecing the domestic and foreign policy of the candidate countries.