THE EEC/EU POLICY TOWARDS ALBANIA, 1970s – 1990s

My research will focus on the European Economic Community’s policy towards Albania from the mid-1970s to the financial crisis of 1997. It will consider four key phases in the evolution of Albania-EEC relations. Firstly, it will delve into the origins of unofficial bilateral relations during the 1970s. Secondly, it will deal with the EEC’s policy towards Albania in the 1980s in a context of international change. Thirdly it will assess the significance of the EEC-Albania’s policy in the context of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the transformation of Europe after 1989, and lastly, it will explore the place of Albania in the EEC’s policy towards the Western Balkans in the early 1990s up to the financial crisis of 1997. An epilogue will follow, showing the connection between the EEC’s policies in the 1990s for the inclusion of Albania in the Thessaloniki Declaration of 2003. By positioning this research on the four aforementioned historical branches, the study not only addresses the existing lacuna of systematic studies on the subject matter but also provides an in-depth analysis of the economic, and political aspects of the EEC-Albania relations. It is important to underline the limited scope of the current historiography regarding the EEC’s policy towards Albania from the Cold War up to 1997. Insofar, within this specific field, there are no systematic studies based on archival research from the European Union’s archives. Rather, the existing historiography has focused on other aspects of Albania. As far as Albania’s historiography in the Cold War, historians have mainly focused on bilateral relations with Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China. Instead, relations with Western European partners are still limited. Notably, no publication has been produced on Albania’s relation with the EEC before the early 1990s. Consequently, this will be the first systematic archival-based analysis of the EEC’s policy towards Albania. It will fill a gap in the existing literature and will contribute to historiography across various branches such as the origin of relations between the EEC/EU and Albania; the external relations of the EEC and the specific roles of European Institutions; the historiography of Albania during the Cold War; and, lastly, the EEC’s policy towards the Western Balkans. Furthermore, this study seeks to connect these branches while offering an understanding of the historical dynamics between Albania and the EEC/EU. Therefore, my thesis would be a new addition to this area of historiography and will hopefully, contribute to an understanding of the long-term relations between Albania and the EU.