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EU action has had little impact on advancing fundamental rule of law reforms in the Western Balkans, according to a special report published by the European Court of Auditors (ECA).
Some technical and operational reforms have been made in the region, but in a context of insufficient political will and lack of commitment, EU support has been largely insufficient to address ongoing problems in areas such as the independence of the judiciary, concentration of power, political interference and corruption, auditors say.
Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are candidates, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidates for EU membership. However, they all continue to face issues related to the rule of law and fundamental rights.
For more than two decades, the EU has been trying to help them implement their reform agenda. EU assistance is built around two intertwined course of action: financial support (amounting to around € 700 million between 2014 and 2020) and political dialogue. The ECA report seeks to determine whether this action was up to par.
The EU’s priorities for the rule of law in the Western Balkans are clear and generally translate into specific actions under the pre-accession instrument. However, the auditors conclude that the main risks to the lasting impact of his action remain insufficiently mitigated.
Measures to address weak administrative capacity and political will – both of which are essential – are scarce and often ineffective. The auditors also note the inconsistent application of the preconditions for project financing and implementation. Similarly, the EU has rarely used the opportunity to suspend aid if a beneficiary does not respect the basic principles of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Finally, the auditors note that EU support for civil society is insufficient in meeting the needs of the sector and mainly based on short-term projects.
“EU support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans has clearly not been successful in bringing about major change,” said Juhan Parts, a member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report.
“The modest progress made over the last 20 years threatens the overall sustainability of the EU support offered in the accession process. “Ongoing reforms lose credibility if they do not yield tangible results,” he added.
If EU action seems to have contributed to the reforms, it is because the reports tend to focus on quantitative results, and not enough on what the reforms have actually achieved. Performance assessments performed by EU auditors give a completely different picture. They suggest that progress on the rule of law situation in the region has generally been quite limited and sustainability has proved difficult to achieve.
Despite decades of EU political support and assistance, fundamental problems persist in many Western Balkan countries. These include problems with the independence of the judiciary, the fight against corruption (which remains widespread) and freedom of expression.
The auditors recommend that the European Commission should strengthen the mechanism for promoting rule of law reforms, increase support for civil society organizations and independent media sources, link funding more closely to progress on the rule of law, and improve reporting. projects and monitoring.
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