Inclusion of the Six Countries of the Western Balkans (WB6) in the European Union Rule of Law Report

The six Western Balkans countries (WB6) – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – are implementing their European Union accession reforms in a rather slow pace, with no vision on membership as the endpoint. On EU’s side there lacks consensus among member states on membership of WB6, including because they their publics’ are against further enlargement of the EU and the EU institutional system is inadequate to accommodate more member states into the already hyper-complex decision-making. While this state of affairs is a disincentive for EU accession reforms in WB6 countries, there are efforts to keep this reform process alive.

One such an effort in place that is gaining attention – particularly among civil society organisations in the region that are actively supporting the EU integration process – is that of phased accession. This approach would support WB6 countries in attaining EU standards by granting them access to EU mechanisms in specific policy areas in parallel with reforms they implement. It would mean allowing their institutions and other stakeholders dealing with specific policy areas to engage directly with their peers in EU agencies and similar bodies in an institutional learning process. The latter are EU-level institutions specialized in specific policy area that exercise regulatory functions. In their specialized role – together with the European Commission (which also conducts membership negotiations with WB6 countries) – they drive the EU acquis development in their policy areas. They also guide and support implementation and enforcement of the acquis and are involved in overseeing this.

Rule of law as a component of governance that includes several policy areas is a priority pillar for EU accession, and thus also part of the Cluster 1 (on Fundamentals) of EU membership negotiations in the recently introduced ‘enhanced enlargement methodology’. Moreover, for WB6 countries digitalisation is a crosscutting area that is important for both domestic governance and as a priority area in their EU accession reforms, and as such affects all policy areas.

Established in 2020, the EU Rule of Law Report (EURoLR) is an instrument in this area that plays a critical role in promoting compliance by member states with this core values and a foundational principle of the Union. This mechanism is operated by the European Commission as a guardian of EU law and enforced through conditionality. While this instrument has been functioning for five years now, since last year it includes the Western Balkans countries of Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. They have been seemingly included because they have opened EU membership negotiations, whereas Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have not been yet included in it. The inclusion of all of them in all components of EURoLR would support WB6 countries in implementing EU accession reforms in this area, for the purpose of gradual compliance with EU legislation and standards in this area.

The present policy brief discusses inclusion of WB6 countries in the EU Rule of Law Report. It consists of two sections. The first section provides a background on EURoLR, focusing on two aspects: its function as an instrument of the EU Rule of Law Framework, and its structure and content. The second section discusses inclusion of WB6 countries in it, focusing on the state of play and functioning for these countries based on findings and analysis related to the WB6 countries that are part of it as of last year.

DISCLAIMER:

This report is produced by Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) in the framework of the IGNITA initiative, funded by Open Society Foundations—Western Balkans.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the Open Society Foundations—Western Balkans.