The EU has been unsuccessful in its efforts to promote rule of law reforms in the Western Balkans, EU auditors said in a report released Monday, according to the European edition of Politico.
The bloc spent about 700m euros between 2014 and 2020 to help Albania, northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo make progress on reforms in areas such as the independence of the judiciary. However, the European Court of Auditors concluded in its report that this investment had had little impact on the region.
"EU support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans has clearly failed to bring about major changes," said Johan Parts, a member of the court responsible for the report.
Many EU governments believe that establishing high democratic standards in the EU's neighboring Western Balkans is important for the stability and security of the bloc itself, especially as all six countries in the region seek to join the EU one day.
"The modest progress made over the last 20 years threatens the overall sustainability of EU support provided through the accession process," Parts said. "Permanent reforms lose credibility if they do not yield tangible results."
The auditors point to a lack of political will in the region, as well as shortcomings in the European Commission's own approach to projects in the Western Balkans, as key factors in the failure to make progress.
"Our audit of the sampled projects shows that when the project components focused on technical assistance, capacity building and institutional efficiency, political support was strong and these activities are generally on schedule," the auditors wrote.
"When the components focus, for example, on amending the legislative framework to strengthen independence and accountability ... then the political commitment has often been weaker," the auditors said.
They also noted that "EU support in the country for civil society action in the area of the rule of law is insufficient" and expressed concern that EU-supported projects may not be financially sustainable after the end of European support.
In addition, the funding allocated to the region under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) for the period 2014-2020, according to the auditors, did not have strict clauses linking the stalled reforms to funding.
EU delegations "seldom took the opportunity to suspend IPA financial support if reforms did not progress satisfactorily," the Court said.
Given these challenges, auditors are now advocating for a set of changes to the bloc's approach to rule of law reforms in the Western Balkans. The Court has issued recommendations, including the establishment of impact indicators on issues such as freedom of expression, together with key steps to monitor progress on them.
Another recommendation is for the European Commission and the European External Action Service, the bloc's external services wing, to step up support for independent civil society and journalists in the region, and to link the disbursement of new funds more closely to progress towards supremacy. of legal criteria.
A spokesman for the European Commission said he welcomed the auditors' report, calling it a "useful contribution".
"The rule of law remains the cornerstone of the accession process and will determine the overall pace of progress of enlargement partners on their path to the EU," the spokesman said in an email, adding that "although important progress has been made, especially in some [Western Balkans] ] partners, the challenges to the rule of law in the region continue and further efforts are needed in this key area of EU enlargement policy ".
The speaker also noted that the EU is updating its approach to enlargement in 2020 and now has a "stronger focus on the rule of law in the Western Balkans".
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