EU integration is a standards-driven process, which, amid different forms of communication, requires potential candidate countries to establish important standards for state and institution building. However, for governments, it is often quite complex to invest in developing standards that advance state-building and strengthen good-governance practices, especially with regard to budget planning practices. Certainly, this relates to the fact that incumbent political parties may risk losing their monopoly over government and administrative behaviour. As a consequence of this pattern, in countries in transition, the political elites adjust the state budget to their political/partisan needs and aim to ensure long-term control over state administration, thus avoiding establishing mechanisms that could hamper their partisan monopolies and interests. The budget planning is an indicator of commitment vis-a-vis the implementation of national policies, and, as such, it should correspond to the policy priorities of a state. In particular, the budget expresses the government‟s commitment to a policy, and, of course, indicates the level of priority assigned to it. On the other hand, a critical determinant of the success of a particular country in addressing the European policy standards is the extent to which the European priorities are linked to and supported by the state budget.