Specific Conditionality of the EU Towards the Western Balkans: The Macedonian Case

The European Union, as a community, concept, and sui generis entity, is highly attractive to all Western Balkan countries. One of the strategic goals of all these countries is accession to and membership in the European Union. On the road to the European Union, there are many standards, criteria, and conditions that each candidate and potential candidate country must fulfil. The EU conditionality principles were established in 1993 at the Summit held in Copenhagen, Denmark, and amended at the Madrid, Luxembourg, and Helsinki summits in 1995, 1997, and 1999, respectively. Besides the general criteria for membership in the European Union, there are also specific criteria related to each country with candidate or potential candidate status for EU accession. In this paper, using descriptive, comparative, content analysis, historical, and other relevant methods, the authors will try to explain the EU’s specific conditionality towards the Western Balkan countries by analysing the Macedonian case. The expected results of this paper will show whether these specific criteria for membership are justified and necessary or if they are merely political tools in the hands of the European Union that can often be misused and which can hinder the Euro-integration processes of the Western Balkan countries.