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This article uses the analytical framework of “Europeanization” to assess whether and how EU conditionality has led to change in Albania’s migration policy. The analysis focuses on a specific but crucial aspect of migration policy: the readmission of irregular migrants. The examination of change in Albanian readmission policy demonstrates that the country has not only accepted the legal obligation to take back its citizens residing illegally in the EU and nationals of other countries who had reached the EU via Albania. It has also created the institutional and procedural conditions for implementation of those legal obligations, and statistical data demonstrate that Albania is accepting all the illegal immigrants returned by the EU member states. The article shows that this policy change took place after the EU made Albania’s progress towards accession conditional on compliance in this policy area. In addition to establishing the temporal covariation of EU pressure and domestic change, this work will explore the causal mechanism linking the two variables by examining the motivation of the actors involved in policy change. Thus, the analysis will identify the domestic factors that make possible the EU impact. This article demonstrates the crucial importance of gate-keeping in ensuring compliance. The control by the EU of access to each stage of the preaccession process is such a powerful motivating instrument that it can outweigh very high domestic costs and lead to developments in the aspirant country that are solely in the interest of the EU.

The Working of EU Conditionality in the Area of Migration Policy