Before and after accession: the protection of minority rights after EU enlargement

The Copenhagen mandate, on which the Commission based its monitoring of minority protection, did not include any specifications on the application of the accession criterion. Moreover, the EU lacked any internal competences in this field. The Commission established an effective monitoring system. However, this system suffers from the contradiction that it only relates to the candidate countries. In essence, this made a strict application of the criterion impossible. Nevertheless, the article concludes that the way in which the criterion was transposed had a positive impact, and that the implementation of eastward enlargement has had more far-reaching consequences for human rights policy in the EU.