Compliance with EU Legislation in the Pre-accession Countries of South East Europe (2005–2011): A Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Abstract:

Compliance with European Union (EU) law and the related causal factors have been theoretically argued and empirically tested in the case of EU member-states and pre-accession countries of Central Eastern Europe. The article examines several theoretical and empirical conditions under which candidate countries of South East Europe (SEE) plausibly comply with EU legislation. Based on the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, three factors were found to relate systematically with pre-accession compliance in SEE countries, namely EU membership credibility, low political constrains and government resonance. These factors are almost always necessary conditions for EU accession and jointly can sufficiently explain compliance performance.