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Policy brief: Countering the rule of law backsliding in the Western Balkans
24/09/2021

Christian Lue / Unsplash
Christian Lue / Unsplash

Which policy measures does the EU need to act against the rule of law decline in the Western Balkans? Three proposals are outlined in this policy brief.

Seventeen years after the big bang enlargement and with the start of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), the European Union (EU) and the Western Balkan countries are facing the challenge of a rule of law backsliding. The rule of law backsliding is not only posing a risk for the EU’s internal democratic foundation but also contributes to the argumentation of a de facto hold on all future enlargements of the EU.

The Policy Brief seeks to put forward three recommendations that take account of the current state of the EU, the rule of law situation and democratic backsliding of the pre-accession countries in the Western Balkans.

First, rule of law and enlargement must be put high on the agenda of the Conference on the Future of the Europe as it is also about the future of the Western Balkans. Second, the EU needs to increase efforts to promote the rule of law in the Western Balkans and call democratic backsliding by its name, including more substantial political consequences. Third, the EU needs to pursue the renewal of transatlantic cooperation for this purpose with regard of the increasingly competitive influence of anti-liberal actors in the region.

The Policy Brief is published in the framework of the WB2EU-Project. The project aims at the establishment of a network of renowned think-tanks, do-tanks, universities, higher education institutes and policy centres from the Western Balkans, neighbouring countries and EU member states that will be most decisive for the enlargement process and Europeanisation of the region in the upcoming years. The WB2EU project is co-funded by the European Commission under its Erasmus+ Jean Monnet programme.

Team & authors

About the WB2EU – Europeanisation meets democracy from below: The Western Balkans on the search for new European and democratic momentum project: With research questions on the rule of law and justice, the social dimension of the enlargement process, and democratisation "from below," the IEP is intensifying its work on the EU enlargement process vis-à-vis the countries of the Western Balkans.

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Image copyright: Christian Lue / Unsplash