The EU's Transformative Power in Albania: Is the EU's Conditionality at a Crossroads?

Introduction

Albania forms part of the geo-political region of Western Balkans, a political term introduced by the European Union to refer to countries of former Yugoslavia, excluding Slovenia and adding Albania to the list. ¹ After the fall of former totalitarian regimes, Albania pursued a pro-Western political and economic orientation. The Thessaloniki summit in 2003 was a crucial event for the countries of the region since it gave Western Balkan states a plausible European perspective. The summit confirmed the importance of Stabilisation Association Process. The process was perceived by many to serve as the main incentive and catalyst for reform in the Western Balkans, in the same way the accession process has done in Central and Eastern Europe. Since then, however, many domestic reforms have taken place, mainly considering the country’s integration to the European Union.

In 2018, the Western Balkans Strategy proposed in the State of the Union speech by President Juncker is the first direct initiative taken after Thessaloniki Summit, followed by a revised Enlargement Methodology in 2020. However, on the other hand, reports show that the level of democracy has been fluctuant in the country and the latest score in 2021 is towards hybrid regime. (Freedom House, 2021). In this light, this chapter explore the puzzle of EU’s transformative power in accession countries, more specifically that of the conditionality, which as for long see as the main tool of democratization that the Union had.

The chapter explores the EU’s transformative power in post-communist Albania. It also unpacks how have the political parties adapted their agendas especially during elections, based on the sticks and carrots policy of the EU? Do we face a fatigue in Albania and the region? The chapter is organized in a logical-chronological structure, by starting with methodology and theoretical background, analysing the changes by political parties, as main political actors and government agents, from the oldest to the most recent. At the end I come up with a set of recommendations and conclusions

The main hypothesis of the chapter is that EU integration process does impact directly changes in political parties’ orientations in candidate countries. The costs of not complying with these requirements result in electoral support loss. It follows that parties that govern while the country is making across-the-board progress in satisfying EU requirements must have adopted and EU-compatible agenda prior to taking power. (Vachudova, 2012) In other words, parties need to adopt an EU-compatible agenda to stay in the political game – namely, to get elected.

The main methodology of the chapter is process training and document review, referring mainly to reports and papers published in the field, with a specific focus on political aprties. I have used this methodology since it is deemed the most appropriate, due to the nature of the study, which focuses on party agendas and (non) existing changes through the process of EU integration. The chapter has its own limitations, since it does not focus on economic factors, nor in the internal challenges that EU is facing, nevertheless, the focus of the chapter is envisaged to countries of Western Balkans, i.e. Albania, aspiring to become member since 1991. This chapter contributes to a new and dynamic theoretical debate on EU’s transformative power in accession countries and how external actors may durably shape domestic politics by providing incentives in the context of the EU accession process. It also fills an empirical gap, since most of the studies conducted in English language about South Eastern Europe do not deepen into Albania.

The goal of this chapter is to look at how EU transformative power works in domestic changes in the case of Albania. How have domestic politics been transformed by the process? It focuses on how political parties in Albania have adapted their agendas in the last three parliamentary elections. The author investigates whether changes are a consequence of the EU’s pre-accession process – and whether indeed they are aligned with EU recommendations and requirements.

Transformative power is linked to the integration of candidates or external governance towards countries engaged in various forms of regional integration with the EU and so geographically limited. (Dimitrova et al., 2020) On the other hand, the centrality of political parties in determining the trajectory of domestic political change in newly democratized states is key area of study in comparative politics. This chapter takes into consideration the political parties because “political parties are arguably the most important and most approximate source of domestic policy change – and thus of compliance or noncompliance with EU requirements.” (Vachudova, 2012)