Stabilisation and Association Process

In exchange, the country may be offered tariff-free access to some or all EU markets (industrial goods, agricultural products, etc.

SAAs are based mostly on the EU's acquis communautaire and predicated on its promulgation in the cooperating states legislation.

As of 2022, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are officially recognized as candidates for membership.

[1] As of April 2016, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia have SAA's in force.

The agreement with Kosovo was the first signed after the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty, which conferred a legal personality to the EU.

Map of the states which have participated in the European Union's Stabilisation and Association Process, with the date of entry into force of its Stabilization and Association Agreement (and the date of lapse of the agreement for Croatia when it became an EU member state).
EU member states
SAA in force