APPROACHING THE 3RD-HALF OF EU GRAND BARGAINING - THE POST-NEGOTIATION PHASE OF THE EUROPE AGREEMENT GAME

This article focuses on the post-negotiation phase of 'grand bargainin g' within the European Union (EU). Notwithstanding the fact that schol ars who focus on day-to-day bargaining have gone to great lengths to c onceptualize the pest-negotiation phase, scholars dealing with 'grand bargains' have not so far engaged in theoretical analysis of this phas e. Using the EU's international negotiation activities as its starting point, this article makes an attempt to redress this imbalance. On th e basis of a developed model, an analysis of the post-negotiation phas e of the EU's Europe Agreements with Central Europe is undertaken. The article concludes that the post-negotiation phase is important not on ly in the sense that it can alter the original negotiation outcome, bu t also because it can transform itself into pre-negotiation for yet an other negotiation.