Coming in

LGBT rights have become increasingly salient within the EU enlargement process as a litmus test for Europeanness. They are also increasingly subject to contestation. Coming in explores the symbolism of LGBT rights and the impact of the enlargement process on LGBT politics in candidate countries. Empirically, the book analyses the promotion of and resistance to LGBT equality norms in Serbia. It demonstrates that European integration has created the opportunity for Serbia to politicise LGBT rights for its own ends and engage in what may be termed 'tactical Europeanisation'. As the book demonstrates, candidate countries can instrumentalise EU identity markers for their own political goals, undermining the impact of reforms on the ground. Offering a novel relational and transnational conceptualisation of the Europeanisation process, Coming in raises important questions about the idea of progress and the role of legal and institutional change within it. Rights without material change for people remain empty signifiers, just as progress in law without a change in lived experience remains hypothetical.