ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the countries of the Western Balkans (WB) regarding climate change, energy, and the environment (CEE) in the context of the enlargement process. It focuses on what the EU has done to align those countries with the climate and energy acquis under the European Green Deal (EGD), and how successful it has been in doing so. It starts with examining the current EU policy framework and the energy and climate realities in WB countries. Drawing on concepts from the ‘EU external governance’ and ‘external Europeanisation’ literature (Lavenex and Schimmelfennig, 2009), the chapter subsequently discusses how the EU has engaged with the WB countries around CEE matters (modes of external governance) and to what extent it has been effective in transforming the political, legal, socio-economic, and energy systems in those countries, aligning them de jure (‘rule adoption’) and de facto (‘rule application’) with its domestic policies. Based on a critical reading of the EU's actions and impacts, the chapter argues that the EU needs to transcend its conditionality-focused approach and suggests ways forward for a more successful future green EU-WB co-transformation.
