Category: EU Western Balkans

STRASBOURG — Accession of the Western Balkans countries to the European Union is its geostrategic priority, now more than ever, and if the EU fails to act in accordance with this, third actors — such as Russia, China and Turkey —  will seize the opportunity to fill the void and increase their influence in the […]

Recently published European Commission report on Serbia represented the most negative report so far when it comes to assessment of progress, and the first one to register “backsliding” in any of the areas, namely Chapter 31 which deals with foreign policy. This comes after months of messages by EU officials that Serbia has to join […]

On 2 August 2022, a group of US Senators introduced a new bipartisan legislation in order to improve cooperation between the United States and six Western Balkans countries, a bill named Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act. The idea behind the proposed legislation is to support economic development in the region through initiatives on infrastructure, […]

This piece was originally published on BiEPAG blog    Never has Montenegro had a better chance to make decisive progress on its EU path. In early 2022, all the stars aligned: a nominally reformist government, a broad pro-EU consensus among citizens, and – with war raging in Ukraine – goodwill from the international community to show […]

This piece was originally published on BiEPAG blog    The European Commission’s (EC) 2022 Country Report on Serbia (Report) provides an objective state of affairs of the country that began EU accession negotiations eight years ago. Unfortunately, especially for the citizens of Serbia, this picture shows the confusion, indecisiveness, uncertainty and lack of willingness of […]

BERLIN — The Western Balkans countries took a major step — or better to say, three major steps — on their way to creating a joint regional market and advancing towards the European Union. The foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia agreed to sign three mobility agreements at […]

This year European Commission’s reports on Western Balkan countries pointed out some new deficiencies and recommendations when it comes to fight against corruption, but also highlighted the need for solving old issues. “Some level of preparation” and “limited progress” were the maximum achievements. On the other hand, some countries are still stuck in the early […]

This piece was originally published on a BiEPAG blog    The publication of the European Commission’s annual enlargement packages used to be a big deal. The Communication itself and, even more, individual country reports were eagerly awaited as an indicator of governments’ political and policy direction and their achievements. The pressure to have the reports translated as swiftly as possible was intense, as they were […]

European Commission’s report on Serbia, which was published on 12 October, referenced directly the corruption scandals Krušik for the first time. In the previous reports, the Commission limited itself to some general guidelines only, while this case was mentioned by name only in the reports of the European Parliament. Due to the current geopolitical situation, […]

This piece was originally published on BiEPAG blog    The publication of the Country Report 2022 for Kosovo has received a rather lukewarm response. Coinciding with the European Council working group meeting on October 13 with visa liberalization for Kosovo included on the agenda, the country report has been completely eclipsed by the visa liberalization […]