This Master’s Thesis investigates the effects of Europeanization on the rule of law in the European Union (EU) accession process of the Western Balkan countries. In the transition process of these states according to the EU membership conditions, EU conditionality is used as the main mechanism to implement the legal reforms. Opposite to the widespread position of Europeanization scholars that the EU transforms states and that EU conditionality has transformative power, this Master’s Thesis argues that the EU conditionality under certain unfavorable domestic conditions (factors) present in the Western Balkan states, such as the historical legacies of the post-Yugoslav armed conflicts and the failure of political elites to commit to the implementation of rule of law standards, has the opposite effect. Ultimately, instead of transformative power, the EU accession process has a pathological (negative) effect over implementing justice reform in Western Balkans countries. EU conditionality with the conducted justice reform contributes to entrenching of the existing detrimental model of governance, so as a consequence the substantive legality and judicial impartiality as elements of rule of law are not established but are weakened. The rule of law reforms thus often produce weak legal approximation to EU standards, politicization and instrumentalization of laws that directly leads to the violation of the principles of justice and fairness before the law, including judicial corruption and dependence on government structures in all analyzed states.
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