Force Mineure? The Effects of the EU on Party Politics in a Small Country: The Case of Estonia

Abstract

Assessing the first four years of EU membership on Estonian party politics indicates that following accession EU perspectives on policies and European policy specialists in small countries may remain sidelined in the decision-making processes within political parties because of the mechanical effects of small numbers of such specialists. At the same time, European parliament elections add an additional event to the electoral calendar and the novel role of MEPs has a potential to affect domestic political competition. However, the constraints posed by common policies may be weakened by the overwhelming domestic concerns of political parties as an analysis of the anatomy of the failure to adopt the single currency shows.