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European Union auditors said the hundreds of millions of euros the bloc sent to the six Western Balkan countries, aimed at improving the rule of law, were simply not yielding results.
The report of the European Court of Auditors, known by the acronym ECA, was published on 10 January. It says Balkan states often continue to show a lack of commitment to tackling everything from corruption to state intervention that would help them advance towards EU membership.
As they themselves are facing many problems, the 27 EU countries have delayed the membership process of Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. At the same time, the influence of China and Russia has increased in the Western Balkans region.
“EU support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans has clearly not been successful in bringing about change,” said Juhan Parts, author of the ECA report.
The 52-page report shows how little has been achieved with the 700m-euro EU assistance provided for the reconstruction of institutions in the region in the period 2014-2020. Even more has been spent in the last two decades, when the Balkan states emerged from communist rule, war and internal conflicts and began to lay the foundations of Western democracy.
The report said the EU often uses too many carrots and not enough sticks, as investments in various projects have failed to have an impact on society.
“The EU has seldom taken advantage of the possibility of suspending aid if a beneficiary state has failed to respect the basic principles of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights,” the ECA said in a statement. .
Although the report found “some positive developments, mainly in Albania and northern Macedonia”, it stated that in the context of insufficient political will (EU support) there has been a limited impact on advancing the crucial role of reforms. in the rule of law ”.
The report said the main problems in the Western Balkan countries continue to be related to the independence of the judiciary, the concentration of power, political influence and corruption.
If any of the six Balkan countries wants to join the EU, it must implement thousands of rules and regulations that are already in force in the European bloc. During the membership application process, states negotiate specific chapters that include respect for the rule of law and democratic standards, freedom of the media and judicial independence, and the implementation of socio-economic referendums.
The report, which contains a lot of criticism, comes at a time when the mood for EU enlargement has waned, not only because member states are gripped by pandemic anxiety, but also because of growing authoritarianism in some countries in the region.
The prospect of membership has been a driving force for reform in the Balkans since the break-up of Yugoslavia, which sparked wars in the early 1990s. Croatia and Slovenia have joined the European bloc, but the EU has not enlarged since 2013.
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