Membership of the European Union currently stands at 27 and is set to rise in the near future with candidate status given to Iceland, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey and Montenegro.

Already in 2003, the EU confirmed that eventually all countries of the Western Balkans will be invited to join, which also includes Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and pending international recognition, Kosovo.

 

This means that the Union will potentially expand to 36 states. Joining the European Union represents a long and intricate process. Political and economic structures of the candidate and accession countries need to be aligned with those prevalent amongst existing member states, while administrative capacities have to be increased and consolidated.

 

Joining the EU therefore depends on so much more than political will: it represents a radical transformation in the way a state is organised. In the years preceding accession, the European Union embarks on country-specific road maps which are designed to gradually integrate the candidate countries into the policy spectrum of the EU. For the Western Balkans this course of action has been termed the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP).

 

This course aims to offer an in-depth analysis of the SAP. It focuses on the individual steps and time lines that a country has to undergo. It will look at financial vehicles which help in the transformation process, whilst also highlighting fundamental objectives of key policy areas, namely the single market, agriculture, rural and regional development, as well as economic governance. The course also pays specific reference to institutional adjustments to satisfy the EU’s objective of transparency and accountability.