In his last Policy Paper for EU Policy Hub, Bledar Feta, Junior Research Fellow of South East Europe Programme of ELIAMEP, deals with the protection of minority rights in Albania through EU’s enlargement conditionality.
The policy paper suggests the EU take its own responsibilities to take minority protection to the next level through the development of a comprehensive and consistent EU approach to minorities that will increase Brussels’ credibility in the eyes of candidate and potential candidate states.
EU policy over minorities seems to be at an early stage of development since Brussels is not yet in a position to offer a model of uniform minority protection standards to all EU Member States. The absence of specific internal minority standards raises doubts about the credibility and the contribution of the EU in the protection of minorities abroad, especially in the countries of Western Balkans that aspire to become member states.
You may access the paper here.