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generalized approach of the Union and the “new methodology” is now
applicable to any state which has been invited/will be invited to join
the EU.

The EU enlargement policy was “revised” in 2020 and a new
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methodology was introduced by the EU commission, in order to give
a new momentum to the enlargement, but also to satisfy the demands
of EU countries, which expected better performance by the candidate
countries in the fields of rule of law, judiciary and fight against
corruption.
The “classic model” of enlargement was mainly based on the full
adoption of the EU Acquis Communautaire – EU Secondary legislation
(Directives, Regulations, Decisions). However, the adoption of the EU
legislation could not guarantee real progress of acceding countries,
particularly in dealing with corruption, judiciary, and the rule of law.
Such conclusions shaped building blocks for drafting a revised EU
Enlargement methodology.
In order to make the accession process more dynamic, the
commission decided to group the accession chapters into clusters.
The commission believes that through such grouping, the negotiation
process became more overarching and comprehensive and that it
created an incentive on the side of the accession countries to accelerate
their reforms and the possibility to move faster if they deliver faster.

The clustered approach reinforces the rule of law conditionality,
meaning that the accession negotiations begin with the Rule of Law
cluster and close with the same Rule of Law cluster. This ensures that
the “fundamental” chapters will be continuously monitored and looked
at during the whole accession process.
Before opening the clusters, the EU undertakes a screening
procedure to determine the current level of alignment between a
candidate country and the EU legislation. This, too, was once done
chapter-by-chapter, while now it is done at the level of clusters. The
outcomes of the screening sessions are reflected in the “screening

101 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/el/qanda_20_182