Negotiations On The EU Nice Treaty From The Perspective Of Small Country Negotiations

The European integration process is the necessary path to the dream of the “Great Europe”.The European Union went through the first enlargement in Middle-East of Europe in the era of the new millennium.The European Union which number of the member states increased from 15 to 27 needs to reform its institutional regime in order to maintain its operational efficiency and democratic legitimacy on the premise of expansion.The main purpose of the Treaty of Nice negotiation is to solve the three “left-overs” of the institutional reform in the Treaty of Amsterdam,so as to balance interests and reach a broad consensus among member states,and solidify the institutional foundation for the future expansion.Composing the most part of the EU,small states made a great success by relying on the economic and political cooperation structures of EU.Although weaker than the great powers,the small countries have become an unneglectable part in the integration process owing to their explicit political goals,flexible negotiation strategies and unique political effects.The Treaty of Nice negotiation which involved many core interests through Intergovernmental Conference including power distribution reflected the most obvious and intensive conflicts between the big and small states.The small states firmly held the bottom line and actively took suitable actions to protect their own interests.The two groups finally reached a consensus framework after the bitter negotiation and compromise.The veto in in the first referendum held by Ireland cast a shadow over the European integration process.Although the Treaty of Nice was approved by the second referendum in Ireland and the EU successfully expand to 27 member states,the EU containing 20 small member states is still facing many negotiations.This means that the integration process risks the danger of the failure we have seen in Ireland.How to make the most use of the small member states to avoid the “integration dilemma” is definitely a big challenge for the EU.