EU CANDIDATE COUNTRIES’ ENERGY SECTOR COMPETITIVENES ANALYSIS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF REVEALED COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE INDEX (2006-2016)

Rapid economic growth, population art and urbanization accelerated by global structure; they are the most important agendas of both national and international arena. In addition to analyzing the competitiveness of the energy sector in the world trade of the EU 28 countries which represent developed economies, EU candidate countries’ competitiveness in this sector are also tested. In the study, energy sector competitiveness measurement of EU 28 countries and EU candidate countries was carried out using Balassa's Revealed Comparative Advantages (RCA) index. In the calculations, in the third step of the SITC Rev 3 framework are used. Result of this study shows that only Montenegro and Albania have a global competitive advantage in energy sector (for the year 2016). In response to this general assessment, Montenegro's 3.32 "Coal, Coke And Briquettes" trade showed a very high competitive advantage, and also it is observed that Albania's 3.33 "Petroleum, Petroleum Products And Related Materials" show a significant competitive advantage, though not very high. Turkey has lost its competitive advantage under the 3:35 "Electric Current" stage year to year against Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Albania