The effects of EU conditionality on patterns of policy engagement of civil society organizations in candidate countries.

EU political conditionality for candidate countries brings an unprecedented focus on transforming standards and practices of civil society engagement in policymaking and introduces a number of mechanisms for supporting reforms in this area. However, there is still not enough evidence on the effects of various conditionality mechanisms for various patterns of civil society policy engagement in countries on the path to EU accession. Drawing on theoretical approaches from Europeanization and interest group research, the paper seeks to analyse how various EU mechanisms influence the involvement, access and prominence of civil society organizations in national policymaking processes in the pre-accession phase. Based on the analysis of the cases of Serbia and Montenegro as the only two Western Balkans candidate countries which have started EU accession negotiations, it is argued that a clearer and more consistent application of EU conditionality can lead to more advanced civil society policy engagement, but its effectiveness depends on the genuine commitment of government bodies to proactive transparency and fundamental freedoms. It is also argued that purely formal government compliance with EU requirements can remain only a window dressing exercise and a source of legitimizing authorities' decision-making processes without empowering effects on domestic civil society actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]