South Eastern Europe and the European Union – Legal Developments

Preface
This publication is the seventh volume of the series of papers pub-lished within the SEE | EU Cluster of Excellence in European and Inter-national Law. The series is a compilation of articles from authors of dif-ferent partner law faculties in Southeastern Europe.
The Europa-Institut of Saarland University is the leading partner of the SEE | EU Cluster of Excellence in European and International Law, together with the law faculties of the Universities of Belgrade (Serbia), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Skopje (North Macedonia), Tirana (Albania) and Zagreb (Croatia), and the South-East European Law School Network. The project is supported and sponsored by the German Aca-demic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and aims to promote outstanding capabilities in research and teaching in European and International Law.
The SEE | EU Cluster of Excellence in European and International Law sets to improve not only the cooperation between Germany and the Southeastern European countries but also the cross-border regional and local cooperation in the areas of teaching and research as well as in the development of common structures and strategies. The Cluster of Excellence seeks to explore new avenues in the transfer of knowledge, as we firmly believe that sharing expertise and experiences will strengthen the profile of each partner, as well as the network as a whole. To this end, the Cluster implements various measures and activ-ities aspiring to achieve the set goals: eLearning modules, a model cur-riculum, a graduate school, several research projects, summer schools, library cooperation, and various publications.
This collection of papers is intended to serve as a forum for aca-demic staff and young academics of the partner faculties in the SEE | EU Cluster of Excellence to publish their research results on relevant questions in European and International Law. In addition to the tradi-tional areas of law, specific areas of interest include the integration of SEE countries in the European Union, issues of legal reform and imple-mentation of the acquis, best practices in legal reform, and approxima-tion of legislation in the region of Southeastern Europe and the EU. Thseries is published every year and is peer-reviewed by the Editorial Board.
The SEE | EU Cluster of Excellence in European and International Law • Series of Papers 2022 encompasses eight papers from academic staff and junior researchers from the law faculties in Belgrade, Skopje, Tirana, Zagreb, Zenica, and the Europa-Institut. This issue covers a broad variety of topics and illustrates the wide range of subjects con-nected to European and International Law. Topics in this volume dis-cuss various law issues from a European and International Law per-spective, including the rule of law in the European Union, the impact of the Union’s enlargement policy on the Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership Countries, and judicial reforms in the Western Balkan as part of the European Union accession talks, to name a few.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the German Ac-ademic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research for their financial support. We owe special thanks to all authors for their contributions as well as to Dr. Mareike Fröhlich LL.M., Boris Belortaja LL.M., Meltem Yildirim LL.M., Jana Katharina Kirst LL.B., Norah Kibaka-Vibila LL.M., and Theresa Mainusch who made this book possible.
We are confident that the SEE | EU Cluster of Excellence in Euro-pean and International Law • Series of Papers will provoke greater in-terest in European and International Law and contribute to the achievement of the goals of the SEE | EU Cluster of Excellence in Euro-pean and International Law.
Saarbrücken, April 2022
Prof. Dr. Marc Bungenberg LL.M., Director
Europa-Institut of Saarland University
Prof. Dr. Thomas Giegerich LL.M., Director Europa-Institut of Saarland University
Prof. Dr. Neda Zdraveva, Manager Centre for the South-East European Law School Network (SEEL