Research Papers

Implementation deficit is a well-known concept in Public policy and European studies. Specifically for the process of EU integration, it consists in the difference between the adopted legislation and the implemented and actually enforced one. There is a vast number of studies dealing with this phenomenon in the EU member states, but there is little work done on potential candidate countries. For example, most of the studies on the Balkan countries focus only in the first part of this process, the formal adoption of legislation or directives, and not the actual implementation. In this paper, I will try to analyze and explain the process of implementation in three different Balkan countries: Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. All the three have continued their path towards membership, through adopting and implementing similar agendas and directives, but with different pace. Literature suggests that these countries present similar structural problems, especially in terms of administrative capacities. By applying implementation analysis theories to the three cases, the paper will seek to compare the process of transposition of EU directives. Main variables represented in the paper are: administrative and coordination capacity, political willingness towards integration and public support for integration. The study will investigate the presence and the causal relation of these factors with the implementation process and try to identify explanation arguments for the different results between the countries. Last, but not least, the theoretical background of the paper will be complemented with the empirical observations and analysis of data contained especially in the EU progress reports for each country. The expected results will serve as framework for understanding and explaining implementation in the region and, therefore, making further considerations on the overall integration process.