Stabilisation and Association Process

In talks with countries who have expressed a wish to join the European Union, the EU typically concludes Association Agreements in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights reform in that country. In exchange, the country may be offered tariff-free access to some or all EU markets (industrial goods, agricultural products, etc.), and financial or technical assistance.

Overview

Stabilisation and Association agreements are part of the EU Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). At present, the countries of the Western Balkans are the focus of the SAP. Specific Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAA) have been implemented with various Balkan countries (see below) which explicitly include provisions for future EU membership of the country involved. SAAs are similar in principle to the Europe Agreements signed with the Central and Eastern European countries in the 1990s and to the Association Agreement with Turkey.

SAAs are based mostly on the EU's acquis communautaire and predicated on its promulgation in the cooperating states legislation. The depth of the policy harmonisation expected by SAA is less than for EU member states; some policy areas in the Acquis may not be covered by a given SAA.

Association agreements must be ratified by the associating state and all EU member states.

The EU's relations with the Western Balkans states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia) were moved from the "External Relations" to the "Enlargement" policy segment in 2005. These states currently are not recognised as candidate countries, but only as "potential candidate countries".^[1] This is a consequence of the advancement of the Stabilisation and Association process.

Stabilisation and Association Process

(brackets): earliest possible date
¹ For Montenegro, negotiations started in November 2005 while a part of Serbia and Montenegro. Separate technical negotiations were conducted regarding issues sub-state organizational competency. Mandate for direct negotiations with Montenegro established in July 2006. Direct negotiations were initiated on 26 September 2006 and concluded on 1 December 2006.^[11]

² For Serbia, negotiations started in November 2005 (as part of SiM, modified mandate from July 2006).

³ For Kosovo, a partially recognized breakaway province of Serbia, negotiations on a Stabilisation Tracking Mechanism began in 2003 and are still ongoing. The EU is still divided on how exactly to continue the SAP with Kosovo, as some of its members remain opposed to Kosovo's independence.

⁴ Although ratified by all member states, the entry into force of Bosnia's SAA has been delayed due to the fact that Bosnia has yet to make the required constitutional amendments.^[12]

See also

• Future Enlargement of the European Union
• European Neighbourhood Policy
• European Union Association Agreement
• Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (SP for SEE)
• Central European Free Trade Agreement
• SAp country statistics

External links

• European Commission Website

References