International promotion of rule of law : EU conditionality, formal compliance and informal tactics of resistance in the area of judiciary reform

Abstract

The EU enlargement conditionality has been considered a key driver of institutional reform in aspirant and candidate countries. In particular, the EU has supported strengthening the rule of law as it underpins the whole set of values and legislation of the Union. This paper analyses the efficacy of EU enlargement conditionality in establishing rule of law, and specifically in reforming the judiciary in Albania. While EU conditionality set in motion and supported major institutional changes in the judicial system in Albania, I argue that the political elite used the EUs tick-the-box policy and mode of assistance to tighten its political grip over new judicial institutions. Institutional changes thus enabled the very phenomena that EU conditionality tried to prevent in the first place, that is, increasing political control of the judicial system. This raises important questions about the transformative power of the EUs enlargement conditionality in aspirant and candidate countries.