RULE OF LAW AND REGULATORY QUALITY IN CENTRAL, EASTERN AND SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE DURING THE TRANSITION

Abstract

The previous rounds of European Union (EU) enlargement have reaffirmed the transformative power of
the EU integration in fostering socio-economic development, political stability, and democratic
consolidation of the candidate countries. The EU accession is a merit-based process, conditioned by the
country’s objective progress in the adoption of the EU’s body of law i.e. the acquis as well as in the
achievement of the agreed benchmarks for implementation of society-wide policy and institutional
reforms. We investigate the development of rule of law and regulatory quality across several country
groupings with a special emphasis on the periods before and after the EU accession to draw policyrelevant conclusions.