Europeanization of Union Rights: A comparative analysis between Turkey and Croatia

Year 2015, Volume: 1 Issue: 2, 355 - 366, 01.04.2015

Zühal Ünalp Çepel

https://doi.org/10.24289/ijsser.106425

Abstract

The Europeanization process has a considerable impact on the fundamental rights within the candidate and member countries. Within this framework, reforms on union rights in the domestic realm have been one of the significant determinants of Europeanization. Turkey’s harmonization process with the European Union (EU) acquis started in 1999 with Helsinki Summit. In this process, it seems to be essential to make more reforms on union rights. Considering Copenhagen criteria, the problems dealing with this issue pose a serious obstacle to the membership process of Turkey. On the other hand, Croatia which became a candidate country in 2004 and was granted the membership status in 2013, passed through a rapid harmonization process on union rights. The paper is based on the Europeanization literature in defining union rights. It is aimed to find answers to the questions of which steps were taken in Turkey and Croatia within the context of freedom of association and social dialogue, why Croatia came a long way in those matters although the country started negotiations with the EU much later than Turkey.  

Keywords: Freedom of Association; Trade Unions; Social Dialogue; Turkey; Croatia

Keywords

Freedom of Association, Trade Unions, Social Dialogue, Turkey, Croatia

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