How Germany Unified and the EU Enlarged

Negotiating the Accession through Transplantation and Adaptation

Tereza Novotná

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781137477613
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Politique européenne

Based on original empirical research that includes 90 interviews with key leaders, this book compares and contrasts negotiations during the processes of German unification and Eastern enlargement of the EU, with particular attention to the Czech Republic. It develops two models of political integration and suggests that such integration can take place by means of a take-over (Transplantation), or by the joining entity adjusting to the norms and institutions of the accepting party (Adaptation). In addition to an exploration of these two different models and a detailed examination of the two cases, the book points to other historical examples of Transplantation and Adaptation and formulates lessons for where future research might travel, temporarily and geographically, in the cases of other political integrations. Providing new insights into German unification and European integration, this text is key reading for academics, advanced undergraduate and graduate students in EU Politics, as well as policy-makers and the wider public.

1

Political Integration in Europe after 1989: An Introduction

Main aims and themes of the book

In 2014–2015, Europe was celebrating three key anniversaries of events that radically changed the European continent: the fall of the Berlin Wall (25 years in 2014), the unification of Germany (25 years in 2015), and ten years since the big-bang enlargement of the EU in 2004. A casual look at maps of Europe in 1989 and 2015 highlights this transformation of the European continent. Not only do we see the creation of a number of new states but we can also see an expanded German state, and indeed we see that many of those new states have become members of a ‘regional state,’ the EU (Schmidt, 2006). While the EU is not a state per se, it has state-like qualities.

The three anniversaries are not only good moments to look back and re-examine the processes of political integration in the 1990s and 2000s; they are also good occasions to pause and reflect on how much has been achieved since then. Particularly due to the current political and economic climate when citizens’ dissatisfaction with not only the potential deepening but also the existing levels of political integration in Europe is on the rise, leading to calls for ‘repatriating the powers’ back to the national levels and to heightened criticisms of the ‘economic dictate’ from Berlin mainly in the southern parts of Europe, a re-evaluation and reconsideration of the speed, manner, and consequences of the two ways in which countries can implement change and reform through political integration can be equally relevant to our present-day concerns. Moreover, the recent accession of Croatia to the EU and the possible further integration of the Western Balkans, including the promising breakthrough in Serbia–Kosovo relations, serve as timely reminders that we may still need some inspiration from the historical moments in the 1990s and 2000s.

This monograph therefore seeks to examine these profound transformations by comparing and contrasting the unification of Germany and the Eastern enlargement of the EU as two integration processes during which (post)-communist states were incorporated into the Western-style democratic political structures. The main research questions are how and by what specific means a post-communist state can be transformed through a process of political integration and how the (post)-communist state can influence this process. The research is thus two-directional. The book examines both the ‘downloading’ side of the process in which the ‘accepting’ unit imposes its structures (political institutions, legal order, economic system) on the ‘entering’ unit, and the ‘uploading’/impact side in which the entering unit changes under the pressures from the accepting unit as well as tries to have an impact on the process of its transformation. By doing so the monograph counters some widely held assertions about the unification and enlargement processes, both within academia and among the public.

From a theoretical point of view the book develops two models of political integration that took place in post-1989 Europe: the Transplantation and Adaptation models of integration. The Transplantation exemplar stands for an immediate integration with a strong leader, no preconditions and no preceding reforms on either part but, instead, employing a simple transfer principle and the economic backing of the accepting entity. The Adaptation model is a model for the opposite process: a gradual, long-term integration with a ‘bureaucratic leadership’ and through ‘political conditionality’ until the candidate states reach a political and economic level comparable to the level of the accepting unit. Following the Adaptation model of integration, the EU pushed for democratization in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) indirectly through the carrot of promised EU membership, while the German leadership, as the Transplantation model predicts, relied on direct institutional and personnel transfers from the West to the East. However, this evoked feelings of exclusion from the unification process among East Germans and hindered their efforts for self-reform.

This monograph examines negotiation processes that led to German unification and the Eastern enlargement of the EU. Although the 2004/2007 Eastern enlargement involved ten states from CEE, to illustrate the enlargement, the Czech Republic and its accession to the EU was chosen as an example due to its comparable size to the former East Germany, its geographical proximity, historical and political similarities in 1989, and the vocal euroskepticism of some leading Czech politicians.

In addition to providing an exploration of two different models of integration and a detailed examination of the two cases, this book also taps into broader questions of the advantages and disadvantages of integrating a state in a nation state such as Germany and in a supranational entity such as the EU. The East German experience is the more dramatic since the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) simultaneously went through a ‘double integration’ into both West Germany and the EU. Apart from the two cases, the book points out throughout to other historical examples of the Transplantation and Adaptation models, such as the merger of the Czech and Slovak lands in 1918 (the Transplantation model), American Unionist policies in the South during the reconstruction period after the American Civil War (the Transplantation model), the Allies’ push for Anglo-Saxon-type institution-building and democratization in the West German occupation zones after the Second World War (the Adaptation model), and the NATO accession (the Adaptation model).

The research rationale, therefore, is two-fold: on the one hand to assess processes of political integration of the state as they proceeded in the former East Germany and in CEE, and on the other hand to formulate some lessons for further cases of political integration, whether a merger of two or more states (e.g. North and South Korea, Cyprus) or future enlargements of regional units, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the EU (e.g. possible further EU enlargements to the Eastern Neighbourhood or Western Balkans, or Turkey’s accession to the EU). In a broader sense, lessons learnt from the two models of political integration can to some extent be applied to processes of policy transfers and democratization in general, whether in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), countries undergoing political transition (e.g. Burma/Myanmar), or regions that need to cope with economic and political reforms induced by external actors (e.g. Greece). The concluding chapter (Chapter 8) alludes to these political upheavals and points out whether and how the research findings from the book might travel temporarily and geographically, and how they can to some extent be implemented in other areas and cases.

Nature of the research and methodology of the book

This monograph draws on the best traditions of political science, contemporary history (zeitgeschichte), and political sociology, and blends them together in an interdisciplinary approach. The research findings inform at least three fields within the social sciences and humanities – that is, political science, history, and sociology, with implications for other fields such as anthropology, public administration, and area studies (Central and Eastern European studies, German studies, and European studies).

Complex political phenomena can be explored through the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches (Marsh and Stoker, 2010). While quantitative methods are good at shedding light on broad trends, qualitative methods are needed to provide a satisfactory explanation. As Haughton (2009, p. 414) argued, just like a golfer needs more than one club to get the ball into the hole, so the scholar who seeks to find an explanation for complex phenomena requires a range of different clubs in his bag. Hence this book employs both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

First, public opinion polls, sociological surveys, and statistical data provide numerical information associated with the unification and enlargement processes in the former East Germany and the Czech Republic. In addition to the quantitative sources, contemporary memoirs and archival documents, such as texts of treaties, reports from parliamentary and negotiation sessions, and other written official materials, complement the quantitative data. However, as a part of the research examining processes of the German unification and Eastern enlargement of the EU, I conducted an extensive series of semistructured interviews with key political actors to qualify the picture and to gauge truly original data. The interviews confirm data and crosscheck information, while also garnering inside knowledge and participants’ perceptions. These interviews were in-depth, conducted in German, Czech, and English, but semistructured to allow interviewees to elaborate on their experiences and explanations of outcomes. All of these interviews were taped and fully transcribed (see Appendix: List of Interviews).

During 2007–2009, nearly 80 interviews were conducted, first in Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg, with many of the German key players, including former and current presidents Richard von Weizsäcker and Joachim Gauck, minister of the interior (and nowadays of finance) Wolfgang Schäuble, minister of finance Theo Waigel, the GDR prime ministers Lothar de Maizière and Hans Modrow, East German opposition leaders Marianne Birthler and Matthias Platzeck (former prime minister of Brandenburg), Günter Schabowski, and so on, acquiring new perspectives on the unification process. As nearly all of the interviews revealed, the unification process was a much more top-down process than much of the scholarly literature implies and the inner unification is far from complete.

In the Czech Republic in 2008 over 30 interviews were arranged with Czech politicians, including former prime ministers Zeman (current Czech president) and Špidla (later on an EU commissioner); ministers of foreign affairs Kavan and Svoboda; leaders of both chambers of the Czech Parliament; deputies, senators, and members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the entire political spectrum; members of the Czech negotiations team, including chief negotiator Telička (many of whom returned to Czech politics as MEPs); officials at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and EU officials, including the European Commission’s chief negotiator for the Czech Republic, Wissels. The main output from these interviews was an insight into the dynamics of the accession process, especially a reassessment of where and when the negotiations really made a difference, thereby challenging the existing body of scholarship which suggests that there was a significant power asymmetry between the EU and accession states’ negotiating teams, thus preventing any real negotiations from taking place.

Furthermore in 2009 and 2011, I undertook three additional one-week trips to Berlin, Potsdam, and Brussels to interview Commissioner Verheugen; directors general for enlargement Michael Leigh and for employment, social affairs, and equal opportunities Nikolaus van der Pas; Ambassador Christian Danielsson; and Rudolf Seiters. All interviews have been converted into quantitative data and represent an elite opinion survey evaluating the processes and outcomes of unification and enlargement, which is presented in Chapter 7.

In order to position the book within the body of the existing scholarly literature and theoretical context, the monograph draws on debates among Anglo-Saxon, German, and Eastern European (primarily Czech) scholars. It melds together the insights of current historians to construct the book’s narrative, which traces the processes of German unification and Eastern enlargement of the EU, but goes beyond these and discusses theories of political integration and ‘political conditionality’ from the political science point of view. In this context the book fills the gap in the European studies’ debate by bringing the (East) German case back in and by arguing that, when we make a comparison to German unification, the often presumed power asymmetry between candidate countries from CEE and ‘Brussels’ has to be qualified as well as the alleged lack of the CEE countries’ impact on the final results of the EU accession negotiations. Given that the last two chapters (chapters 7 and 8) explore perceptions and consequences in the new Bundesländer (states) and CEE, the book also refers to contributions which examine the German and enlargement processes from the standpoint of political sociology.

Structure of the book

After introducing the theme of political integration and, more specifically, the processes of political integration in post-communist Europe after 1989 in this introductory chapter, the book proceeds as follows.

Chapter 2 develops the book’s original theoretical framework and introduces the two models of political integration in post-1989 Europe: the Transplantation and Adaptation models. The Transplantation model is built around the quick speed of integration with a key role of a strong leader in the accepting unit who pushes in the direction of integration and thus accelerates the process with each step. Because of the high speed of the process, there is neither room for setting up preconditions that should be met before any integration takes place nor for direct public involvement in the final decision-making. In fact, the Transplantation model is a highly elite-driven top-down process in which the accepting part is the motor of change and local actors from the entering unit have almost no influence over the process and results.

The Adaptation model, on the other hand, takes a much slower pace and involves a long-term gradual integration and adaptation. There is no need for a strong personality to take over the leadership role. On the contrary, since the integration process runs through several election periods, the Adaptation model requires a strong bureaucratic or administrative leadership to keep the continuity of the integration process and to maintain a consensus among elites about the goals and means of integration. Because there is more time before integration is completed, the entering unit can adjust more easily and its local actors actually have an impact on where and how the process is going.

For the same reason, the accepting entity can in contrast set up preconditions which need to be met by the entering unit and indeed can use this ‘political conditionality’ as its leverage over the entering part. Again, because there is enough time to do so, the public may in the end be consulted directly in a referendum. The Adaptation model is eventually much more a bottom-up process than the Transplantation model. Due to the fast speed and lack of time, the Transplantation model must use ‘transfers’ (of political and economic system, rule of law, civil society structures, etc.) as the only way of rapidly ‘transplanting’ the institutional set-up from the accepting to the entering unit. The Adaptation model, on the other hand, can only stimulate change and provokes gradual adaptation through institution-building and self-reform in the entering entity.

Chapter 2 concludes with clarification of the Transplantation and Adaptation models of political integration by pointing to two core features which distinguish the two models: the speed and impact of the local actors in the integration process. The last section of the chapter outlines the negative correlation between these two aspects and shows that the real cases of political integration, which are further examined in this book – the unification of Germany and Eastern enlargement of the EU – are only two examples on a continuum between two ideal cases – Transplantation and Adaptation. There are other historical and potential cases which can be located on this continuum that this book returns to throughout.

Chapters 3–6 turn from the theoretical considerations to empirical findings and outline the two case studies – the unification of Germany and the Eastern enlargement of the EU, with a focus on negotiations during the Czech accession to the EU. The chapters start off by relating each case study to the theoretical framework and, in particular, to its two distinguishing features – the speed and impact of the local actors in each of the two integration processes. Although the chapters proceed chronologically, they concentrate on specific issues or themes rather than on providing a linear narrative.

In the case of German unification, Chapter 3 elaborates on these topics: the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chancellor Kohl’s 10-Point Program, the first democratic elections to the East German Parliament in March 1990, and negotiations for and conclusion of the State Treaty leading to the creation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) between West and East Germany. Each of these events represents a point in the unification process when the integration accelerated and intensified. At the same time, with each of these steps, the influence of domestic East German actors on the form of integration diminished. In fact, the book presents these events as steps in the unification process during which a swinging pendulum moved from East to West and so on.

For instance, on 28 November 1989, during the second stage of the unification when Helmut Kohl declared his 10-Point Program, the West German ‘accepting unit’ clearly became in his person the driving force behind the integration process and took over conducting the ensuing events. Yet it was not at all clear how quickly the integration process would follow and even what the final stage might be – whether a unified federal state, a confederation, or merely ‘confederative structures.’ At the beginning the timeframe was set at ten years. However, with every subsequent stage (March Volkskammer (the People’s Chamber) elections, EMU, etc.), unification came much closer and, in fact, the former East Germany joined the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in less than a year since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Simultaneously, the influence of the East German actors in each period shrank – from those who ‘put down the Wall’ to those who dissolved their own state and joined another.

Chapter 5 sketches out developments in the Eastern enlargement of the EU during these stages: the call for ‘Return to Europe’ and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• 1. Political Integration in Europe after 1989: An Introduction
• 2. Transplantation and Adaptation Models of Political Integration: A Theoretical Framework
• 3. The Unification of Germany: A Case of the Transplantation Model of Political Integration
• 4. Negotiating the East German Accession: Act II of German Unification
• 5. Eastern Enlargement of the EU: A Case of the Adaptation Model of Political Integration
• 6. Negotiating the Czech Accession to the EU: Act II of EU Eastern Enlargement
• 7. Evaluating the Unification of Germany and the Eastern Enlargement of the EU
• 8. Lessons Learnt from the Transplantation and Adaptation Models of Political Integration: A Conclusion
• Appendix: List of Interviews
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index