Punching above its weight? How Lithuania leverages EU’s enlargement policies

Författare

Rytis Gerlikas

Summary, in English

Celebrating its twentieth anniversary of accession into the European Union, Lithuania is a small state with ambitious goals related to further enlargement of the bloc. This thesis seeks to answer how this small EU member state aims to leverage EU’s enlargement policies in two ways: 1) by looking at what frames are used in their political communication; 2) by investigating how well 2 strategies, designed to help overcome the challenges of a small state, apply to Lithuania. A framing analysis of 22 EU Council doorstep statements, 12 statements released via official channels and 4 strategic governmental documents finds that the Lithuanian communication of their positions on EU enlargement mostly contributes to the normative and pragmatic discourse categories, utilising the frames of Europeanness, responsibility, conditionality and security. Results confirm a strong and consistent pro-enlargement stance of the state and a special interest in further integration of candidate countries from the Eastern Partnership programme. The case study then indicates that Lithuania attempts to overcome the challenges of a small state by building or participating in regional issue-based coalitions and developing a strategic partnership with a larger EU member state. However, it only partially applies the smart state strategy in the field of EU enlargement policies.

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