Stabilisation and association agreement

In talks with countries that 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 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 and Bosnia and Herzegovina) 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.

As of October 2013, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia have SAA's in force. Bosnia has an interim agreements in force, with their SAAs undergoing ratification, while Kosovo has begun negotiations on a SAA with the EU.^[2] Croatia formerly had a SAA, but it lapsed when they acceded to the EU in 2013.

Kosovo's SAA would be the first signed after the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty, which conferred a legal personality to the EU.^[2] As a result, the EU representative in Kosovo has said that “unlike SAA with other countries of the region, this one will be exclusively the EU agreement. The EU will co-sign it as a legal entity."^[3] The agreement will not need to be individually ratified by each member state.^[4] The representative went on to say that "since Kosovo is not recognised by the five member states, we had to issue a directive saying that the signing of the agreement will not signify that the EU or any of the countries recognise Kosovo as a state."^[3]

Stabilisation and Association Process

Notes

(brackets): earliest possible date

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

References

External links

• European Commission Website

v t e Foreign relations of the European Union   Bilateral relations Africa & the Middle East Cape Verde Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Lebanon Morocco Palestine† South Africa Syria Yemen Americas Argentina Brazil Canada Cuba Greenland Mexico United States Asia-Pacific Australia China (People's Republic of) Fiji India Indonesia Japan Nepal North Korea Pakistan Philippines South Korea Europe & Central Asia Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Faroe Islands Georgia Iceland Kazakhstan Kosovo† Liechtenstein Macedonia‡ Moldova Monaco Montenegro Northern Cyprus (Turkish Republic of)† Norway Russia San Marino Serbia Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Vatican City General Member's overseas territories Largest trading partners Association agreements Free trade agreements †= Disputed state, may not be recognised as an independent state by some or all European Union members. ‡= Name disputed by Greece, EU recognises the Republic of Macedonia as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.   Multilateral relations and initiatives Organisations Arab League ASEAN ECHR G8 ICC United Nations Initiatives African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States Asia–Europe Meeting CARIFORUM Customs Union Eastern Partnership Energy Community Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly European Common Aviation Area European Economic Area Euro-Mediterranean free trade area Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Euronest Economic Partnership Agreements Neighbourhood Policy Northern Dimension Mediterranean Union Stabilisation and Association Process   Organisation Policy Common Foreign and Security Policy Economic Relations Everything but Arms Security and Defence Policy Enlargement Actors ECHO EuropeAid External Action Service Foreign Affairs Council High Representative Catherine Ashton Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Foreign Policy Instruments Service Diplomatic missions of the EU / to the EU Ambassadors Special Representatives   Military and security Initiatives Defence Initiative Synchronised Armed Forces Defence Procurement Petersberg tasks Helsinki Headline Goal Structures Political and Security Committee Military Committee Military Staff Operations Centre Security & Defence College Defence Agency Institute for Security Studies Satellite Centre Joint Situation Centre Forces European Union Force Eurofor Eurocorps EU Battlegroup EU Gendarmerie Force EU Maritime Force Deployments