A plethora of research has emerged in the Balkans tracing the instrumentalization of EU and its accession practices in fulfilling Balkan leader’s domestic needs. Research has also pointed at how the EU accession practices in the region have helped in consolidating non-democratic practices and cultivated autocrats in the region (Bieber 2018; 2020; Kmezić 2019, Vachudova 2019, Richter and Wunsch. 2020). I zoom in on Albania and Rama’s governance in and around contested heritage to trace how the EU is instrumentalized in issues of preservation and demolition of contested heritage. I show that autocrats not only masterfully instrumentalize the EU for domestic legitimation purposes; they subsume EU support, involvement, and ‘events’ to their governance tropes – a concept I develop further in my research. Drawing on my doctoral dissertation research, I focus on EU’s support for Albania and demonstrate how Rama’s ‘urban revival’ motto and his Renaissance (Rilindja) government banner use EU sponsored projects, EU and member states high official visits, and ceremonials and inaugurations as building blocks to both urban governance and spectacular propaganda. I trace the Rama government’s use of the EU as a ‘brand’ and ‘trophy partner’ to subdue contestation around heritage in three main sites that had different fates in the preservation-demolition spectrum of urban revival: the National Theater of Albania, the Mosaic of the National Historical Museum, and the Piramida of Tirana. I propose legitimation by intervention and legitimation by association as the primary mechanism that prey on the EU for domestic legitimation needs.
