The authors of the article state that the first overall impression of the document of the new EU methodology is that it is a small masterpiece of European compromise. The EC has managed to put together a sensible, even innovative, proposal, while at the same time not aggravating any of the member states. It uses all the key words, especially those from the French proposal, and even accommodates some of the persistent demands of the Western Balkan civil society. Ergo, the narrative rightfully focuses on the fundamentals, that is, on the importance of rule of law, as well as the functioning of basic democratic institutions, public administration reform and economic governance. So far, civil society in the region has often warned that the existing rule-of-law negotiation framework has been ineffective when it comes to truly tackling the deeper issues of state capture and democratic backsliding. Read more here.
Source: European Policy Centre