This article applies system theory to the analysis of the relationship between the EU and candidate country Serbia, with a focus on adult education policy. The study explores how the peripheral status of Serbia with its hybrid political regime combining autocratic and democratic features leads to the hybridisation of its adult education system, and how the EU's policies, institutions, and funding mechanisms shape this relationship. The study draws on system theory and the results of our recent study of EU support for adult education in Serbia and applies qualitative content analysis to EU and Serbian adult education policy documents, to examine the consequences of interactions between system components on Serbian adult education policy. It posits that EU's norm-setting on one side and the allocation of funding and control mechanisms on the other facilitate the neo-colonial position of Serbia as the periphery and perpetuate a power dynamic that allows hybrid regimes to flourish and prioritise their own interests over those of their citizens or civil society. The study further opens up the possibility that these dynamics may produce 'glitches' in the system and corruption of the system as a whole, and invites further research and theorisation that would illuminate similar patterns and relationships across other European (national) subsystems.