ABSTRACT
When the EU decided at the Copenhagen European Council in 1993 to go ahead with enlargement, the political accession criteria required applicant states to guarantee the respect for and protection of minorities. The most often cited problem in the EU’s use of conditionality in the field of minority protection is the setting of double standards. This problem arises because the external use of minority protection as a membership condition did not follow established EU rules: the EU has neither developed special minority rights within the acquis communautaire, nor do the member states subscribe to a common standard (De Witte 2000: 4).
