The thesis’ central, interdisciplinary topic can be inserted into the pool of “European Integration’’, understood as a process of industrial, economic, political, legal, and cultural integration of states in Europe.  Specifically, this thesis concerns the enlargement debate in International Relations. The paper will delve into a specific sector of European enlargement[1] namely, the realm of the EU negotiation processes aiming and with the aid of data and  prior research aims at identifying whether a double standard applied by the EU to different candidate countries can be established by examining the dynamics between the European Union and two               candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey).Understanding how the EU as a political and regulatory body admits new members, if a double standard exists when itcomes to the process of admitting them as candidates, are topics that are becoming central to the sphere of International Relations (IR). The theoretical perspective that the paper seeks to address finds its roots in constructivism and realism. The methodology will take into consideration qualitative types of data. The research presented in this study suggeststhat there is no evidence of a double standard and that it is hard to determine whether the EU uses distinct criteria for different countries. 

The overall process of enlargement is often referred to as European integration, thus the two words are often used interchangeably to outline the same concept.