Acceding to ‘social Europe’? Montenegro and the social dimension of EU enlargement

Social and labour policy have been something of a ‘neglected child’ of the EU enlargement process, overshadowed by the imperatives of market integration, security and the rule of law. Scholars of EU social policy have typically neglected this dimension as well, and tend to regard enlargement as following a (geo-)political and/or economic logic. Nevertheless, past experiences attest to the potential of ‘social convergence’ in the pre-accession phase. Additionally, the EU’s social and labour market agenda has been ‘revived’ in recent years, leading to a notable expansion of legislation and governance. How has this left an imprint on the social dimension of enlargement in times of stagnation and, more recently, an ostensible revitalization? In this paper, I gauge the ‘social Europeanization’ of aspiring Member States by using the test case of Montenegro. In the past two and a half decades, the country has evolved to become ‘the frontrunner among the Western Balkan states’ in view of its prospective EU membership. Earlier studies attest to the Union’s contribution to the democratization of the country and the construction of administrative capacity. At the same time, the Montenegrin welfare state and labour market has faced few major reforms, in comparison to other post-communist societies, during the two-decade period of single-party dominance that ended in 2020. This paper traces how the (revived) prospect of EU membership has reshaped social and labour market policy in Montenegro, on paper and in practice, during the past half-decade. How has the country implemented and enforced the EU’s labour-law acquis, and reformed its system of social protection and service provision? What have been the determinants and mechanisms behind its ‘success’ or ‘failure’? And what lessons can we draw from this? Tentatively, I find that, with a population of just over 600,000 inhabitants, Montenegro faces persistent governance challenges rooted in its domestic political culture, but also has the potential of serving as a ‘laboratory’ for future-oriented social and labour market policies.