Human Rights in the EU’s Conditionality Policy Towards Albania: The Practice of Sub-committee Meetings

Abstract

EU enlargement policy is organized through a series of practices that regulate its relations with enlargement countries, including Albania, a candidate for EU membership. The aim of this contribution is modest in that it does not seek to engage in a discussion about the actual impact of EU conditionality. Instead, it takes the well-known limitations of external interference as given, and seeks to demonstrate the importance of an often-neglected institution in the process: sub-committees. These bodies bring together EU and Albanian officials and comprise a major part of the EU’s engagement with enlargement countries. Imposing conditionality through sub-committee meetings, including in the field of human rights, is a practice that occupies most of the time of the European Union services working at the offices that maintain relations with Albania. However, this instrument has received scant attention in the literature.