The Introduction of the Open Method of Coordination in the European Enlargement Policy: Analysing the Impact of the New PHARE/Twinning Instrument

The article develops the thesis that the EU Commission borrowed some features from the open method of coordination (OMC) in order to implement the 1997 reform of the fifth EU enlargement policy. Contrary to the thesis of enlargement conceived as a unilateral policy, I use tools of historical and sociological institutionalism to show the relative institutional impact of one of the main instruments of the 1998 pre-accession strategy Ð the PHARE institutional Twinnings Ð not only on candidate countries, but also on member states. As Twinnings might be regarded as a new instrument of external governance, their implementation also illustrate the limits of the use of the OMC in EUÕs external relations.