If you want to join the EU these days, you have to agree to use their specific AI and face-scanning tech first. It's the new entry fee.
March 27, 2026
Original Paper
Algorithmic Conditionality: Theorising the Digital Dimension of EU Accession Governance
SSRN · 6217740
The Takeaway
This 'algorithmic conditionality' shifts international governance from copying legal codes to installing specific software tools. It creates a recursive loop where the automated systems used to monitor a country's compliance are themselves the primary objects of political regulation.
From the abstract
The dominant framework for analysing EU accession governance, the external incentives model, was developed before the emergence of the EU's digital regulatory state and does not account for the distinct dynamics of digital rule transfer to candidate countries. This article introduces the concept of algorithmic conditionality, defined as the process by which the European Union extends its digital regulatory authority over candidate states through accession requirements encompassing AI governance,