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The EU and the Western Balkans: towards a common future

The EU is fully committed to the EU integration of the Western Balkans. This is a shared strategic objective that unites the whole region and the EU. Accession talks are underway with Montenegro and Serbia. In March 2020, the Council agreed to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidates for EU membership.

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The EU and the Western Balkans

All Western Balkans partners have Stabilisation and Association Agreements with the EU, opening up trade and aligning the region with EU standards. The Stabilisation and Association Agreements provide the overall framework for the relations of the EU with the Western Balkans. We cooperate closely to address shared security challenges. The EU also provides political and financial support for the countries of the region to foster good neighbourly relations and build shared prosperity through regional integration. In addition to its strong political support for the Western Balkans and the Berlin Process, the EU supports regional co-operation organisations, to boost economic development, improve connectivity, and enhance security and many other benefits across the region. 

The prospect of EU membership is an incentive to bring forward reforms in the Western Balkans. Reforms are key for the European path, but more importantly, they are crucial to improve political and economic governance, rule of law, media freedom and conditions for civil society. This is in the shared interest of the citizens of the Western Balkans and of the EU.

As High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell has highlighted, the accession negotiations “can only happen if there is more progress on reforms and on their implementation.” And he has made clear that the EU too has to deliver: “we need to increase our efforts to bring the region closer to the European Union“.

Western Balkans on the path to EU accession

The EU accession process is at the centre of EU-Western Balkans relations. The conditions for establishing these relations were first laid down in the Council Conclusions of April 1997.

In 1999, the EU Council established the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP). It was confirmed that the countries of the Western Balkans would be eligible for EU membership if they met the criteria established at the Copenhagen European Council in June 1993.

The “Copenhagen Criteria” include political, economic and political/administrative requirements and help make clear the standards countries that wish to join the EU need to meet.  

Since then, the EU has continuously underlined its determination to support the Western Balkans on their path towards European integration. Regular EU-Western Balkans Summits have been held since 2018, with EU leaders reaffirming the Union’s determination to intensify further its engagement with the region and welcoming the pledge of the Western Balkan partners to carry out necessary reforms.  

In February 2020, the European Commission presented proposals to strengthen the EU accession process. The Council endorsed this new methodology aiming to make the accession process more credible, predictable and subject to stronger political steering.

Montenegro and Serbia have started membership talks. In March 2020 the European Council agreed to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidates for EU membership.

EU-Western Balkans cooperation

The EU is the leading trade partner for all Western Balkans, with almost 70% of the region's total trade. From 2011 to 2021, EU trade with the Western Balkans has grown by almost 130%. In the same period, Western Balkans exports to the EU have increased by 207%. EU businesses are also leading investors in the region. In 2018, EU companies accounted for over 65% of foreign direct investment in the region.

The EU also provides the Western Balkans partners with political, financial and technical support, to help them implement necessary reforms and align with EU rules and regulations. Citizens and companies from the region are already participating in EU programmes that operate in the Union itself, such as Erasmus+, which supports student exchanges, and Creative Europe, supporting cooperation projects in the field of culture.  

The EU and the Western Balkans share security challenges and are addressing them together. The EU and the region cooperate on a wide range of security issues such as fighting organised crime, tackling hybrid and cyber threats, countering small arms trafficking and strengthening counter-terrorism.

Cooperation in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)/Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is a priority for the European Union and its Western Balkans partners. The Western Balkans Strategy adopted by the European Commission in 2018 outlines among the objectives to expand and deepen CFSP/CSDP dialogues and increase the Western Balkans’ contributions to EU missions and operations. Cooperation in CFSP/CSDP has significantly evolved in the past years. Whilst the EU remains engaged with CSDP missions and operations in the region, Western Balkan partners are themselves also contributing to CSDP missions and operations around the world.   
 

In times of crisis the EU has shown solidarity with its Western Balkan partners. The EU has helped the Western Balkans on COVID-19 and it has been delivering vaccines. Through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, EU Member States have assisted the Western Balkans for example in fighting wildfires.

Through the Economic and Investment Plan, the EU has mobilised unprecedented resources to support connected, green, and people-focused growth, benefiting the region and Europe as a whole.

Three EU Special Representatives (EUSR) support the work of the High Representative/Vice President: in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Kosovo and for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues.

 

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