Session

Agriculture, Food Science and Technology

Description

Kosovo faces significant challenges in aligning food safety standards with those of the European Union (EU), a crucial component of its EU member-ship process. This paper explores the institutional challenges Kosovo faces in food safety governance by comparing its experience with Croatia's successful alignment during its EU accession process. Through a comparative analysis, the research highlights Croatia’s multi-level governance, risk-based management, and incremental reform as models that Kosovo can adapt to improve food safety standards. The analysis draws on institutional change theories, such as path de-pendency, to explore how Kosovo’s historical and socio-political context influences its reform efforts. External pressures, including EU conditionality, com-bined with internal coordination and capacity-building, are identified as key driv-ers for successful institutional reform. The findings offer insights into how Ko-sovo can enhance its food safety governance, comply with EU standards, improve public health outcomes, and expand its access to international markets.

Keywords:

Food safety standards, Kosovo, institutional change, EU accession, comparative analysis, institutional change theories

Proceedings Editor

Edmond Hajrizi

ISBN

978-9951-982-15-3

Location

UBT Kampus, Lipjan

Start Date

25-10-2024 9:00 AM

End Date

27-10-2024 6:00 PM

DOI

10.33107/ubt-ic.2024.260

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Oct 25th, 9:00 AM Oct 27th, 6:00 PM

Institutional Challenges in Kosovo's Food Safety: A comparison with Croatia’s EU accession

UBT Kampus, Lipjan

Kosovo faces significant challenges in aligning food safety standards with those of the European Union (EU), a crucial component of its EU member-ship process. This paper explores the institutional challenges Kosovo faces in food safety governance by comparing its experience with Croatia's successful alignment during its EU accession process. Through a comparative analysis, the research highlights Croatia’s multi-level governance, risk-based management, and incremental reform as models that Kosovo can adapt to improve food safety standards. The analysis draws on institutional change theories, such as path de-pendency, to explore how Kosovo’s historical and socio-political context influences its reform efforts. External pressures, including EU conditionality, com-bined with internal coordination and capacity-building, are identified as key driv-ers for successful institutional reform. The findings offer insights into how Ko-sovo can enhance its food safety governance, comply with EU standards, improve public health outcomes, and expand its access to international markets.