Reconceptualizing the Legal Process of Albania’s Integration into the European Union: A Critical Approach

The process of Albania's accession to the European Union (EU) highlights a complex interplay between formal legal approximation and a deeper political and social transformation. The aim of this paper is to critically examine Albania's legal integration process, drawing on a theoretical perspective inspired by systems theory, and challenging the traditional approach to Europeanization that is often reduced to the label of a “science of obedience”. Thus, by reconceptualizing European integration for candidate countries, the analysis highlights how Albania's EU accession process has, in some cases, reduced domestic politics to the implementation of “homework” dictated by Brussels, at the expense of local vision and agency. By reviewing some key academic and policy sources, as well as some of the latest EU Progress Reports (2024; 2025), we explore the harmonization of Albania’s domestic legal order with the EU’s acquis communautaire, identifying significant administrative, political, and legal barriers, as well as assessing the ongoing gaps in this process. We conclude that a dynamic, context-sensitive approach to European integration – which incorporates domestic political agency and acknowledges societal conditions – is essential for Albania to move from formal compliance to more genuine.