The EU competition rules and impact on increasing market competitiveness on the Western Balkans

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Abstract

Harmonizing national legislation with the EU acquis and developing capacities of the national competition authorities (NCA) remains a core element for increasing market competitiveness for the countries of the Western Balkans (WB). This research paper using a comparative approach while analysing data and information from a chronological point of view identifies the lack of progress of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) countries in the EU integration process. The paper identifies that most of the WB countries show similar shortcomings from the past which are still present and the progress achieved in this in the EU path is limited. The paper concludes that in order to achieve the targets defined in the SAAs the WB countries should enhance their efforts to not only approximate their legislation with the EU acquis but, in addition, establish appropriate mechanisms and increase the implementation capacities. The conclusions of the paper may be relevant for further researches regarding the more challenging issue as to why competition law in the WBs has not been sufficiently understood and developed in this region. Understanding and embracing the competition rules is important for economic development in general (Buccirossi & Ciari, 2018) while it contributes directly to the living standard of the citizens (Najdanović, Mladenović, & Tutek, 2019). This paper tries to contribute to this area of study which is not sufficiently studied as well and publications therein are not that many.

Keywords: Market Competitiveness, Undertakings, Dominant Position, EU Internal Market, Western Balkans, Stabilization and Association Agreements

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — E.T. and B.H.; Methodology — E.T.; Writing — Original Draft — E.T. and B.H.; Resources — E.T.; Writing — Review & Editing — E.T. and B.H.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: L1, L4, K2

Received: 24.09.2021
Accepted: 17.12.2021
Published online: 20.12.2021

How to cite this paper: Tota, E., & Hasanpapaj, B. (2021). The EU competition rules and impact on increasing market competitiveness on the Western Balkans [Special issue]. Corporate Governance and Organizational Behavior Review, 5(2), 156–164. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgobrv5i2sip4