The Western Balkans
The EU has developed a policy to support the gradual integration of the Western Balkan countries with the Union. On 1 July 2013, Croatia became the first of the seven countries to join, and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia have candidate country status. Accession negotiations and chapters have been opened with Montenegro and Serbia, negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia were opened in July 2022, and Kosovo submitted its application for EU membership in December 2022.
Legal basis
- Title V of the Treaty on European Union (TEU): EU external action;
- Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU): international trade agreements;
- Article 49 TEU: criteria for application and membership.
Objectives
The EU aims to promote peace, stability and economic development in the Western Balkans and open up the prospect of EU integration.
Background
In 1999, the EU launched the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP), a framework for relations between the EU and countries in the region, and the Stability Pact, a broader initiative involving all key international players. The Stability Pact was replaced by the Regional Cooperation Council in 2008. The 2003 European Council in Thessaloniki reaffirmed that all SAP countries were potential candidates for EU membership. This ‘European perspective’ was reaffirmed in the Commission’s February 2018 Western Balkans strategy and in the declarations following successive EU-Western Balkans Summits.
Instruments
A. The Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP)
Launched in 1999, the SAP is the strategic framework supporting the gradual rapprochement of the Western Balkan countries with the EU. It is based on bilateral contractual relations, financial assistance, political dialogue, trade relations and regional cooperation.
Contractual relations take the form of stabilisation and association agreements (SAAs). These provide for political and economic cooperation and for the establishment of free trade areas with the countries concerned. Based on common democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law, each SAA establishes permanent cooperation structures. The Stabilisation and Association Council, which meets annually at ministerial level, oversees the application and implementation of the agreement concerned. It is assisted by the Stabilisation and Association Committee. Finally, a Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee (SAPC) ensures cooperation between the Western Balkan countries’ parliaments and the European Parliament.
Since the entry into force of the SAA with Kosovo in April 2016, SAAs are now in force with all Western Balkan candidate and potential candidate countries. In the case of Kosovo, the SAA is an EU-only agreement, which the Member States do not need to ratify (five Member States do not recognise Kosovo as an independent state). Trade and trade-related aspects of SAAs are included in interim agreements. They generally enter into force swiftly after they have been signed, as trade is an exclusive EU competence.
B. The accession process
Applicants for EU membership must fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria (see fact sheet on the enlargement of the Union 5.5.1). Once a country has been recognised as a candidate, it moves through the various stages of the process at a rate largely dependent on its own merits and progress.
A candidate country must adopt and implement all EU legislation (the acquis communautaire). The Commission reports on progress in its annual country reports. Every important decision is taken by the Council, acting by unanimity, from the opening of negotiations to their closure. The accession treaty has to be endorsed by Parliament and the Council before being ratified by all contracting states.
Candidate and potential candidate countries receive financial assistance to carry out the necessary reforms. Since 2007, EU pre-accession assistance has been channelled through a single, unified instrument: the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).
Most candidate and potential candidate countries may also participate in EU programmes.
C. Regional cooperation
European integration and regional cooperation are closely intertwined. One of the key aims of the SAP is to encourage countries of the region to cooperate among themselves across a wide range of areas, including the prosecution of war crimes, border issues, refugees and the fight against organised crime. A specific component of the IPA is dedicated to regional cooperation and cross-border programmes.
The Sarajevo-based Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) operates under the guidance of the South-East European Cooperation Process. The RCC aims to support the European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations of its non-EU members, and to develop cooperation in such fields as economic and social development, energy and infrastructure, justice and home affairs, security, building human capital, and parliamentary relations. The EU and many individual Member States support and participate in the RCC.
Another important regional initiative is the Central European Free Trade Agreement. In addition, countries of the Western Balkans participate in a number of regional frameworks.
D. Visa-free travel
Visa-free travel to the Schengen area was granted to citizens of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (now the Republic of North Macedonia), Montenegro and Serbia as of December 2009, and to citizens of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina as of November 2010. In January 2012, a visa liberalisation dialogue was launched with Kosovo. In July 2018, the Commission confirmed that Kosovo had fulfilled all criteria. Following protracted interinstitutional negotiations and a final European Parliament vote in April 2023, Kosovars will be able to enjoy visa-free travel to the Schengen area by January 2024 at the latest.
Current status
A. Albania
Albania applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009. In October 2013, the Commission unequivocally recommended granting Albania the status of candidate for EU membership, which it obtained in June 2014. In light of Albania’s progress, the Commission repeatedly recommended opening accession negotiations. In June 2018, the Council agreed to the possible opening of accession negotiations with Albania in June 2019, provided that the necessary conditions had been fulfilled. In March 2020, the Council finally decided to approve the opening of accession negotiations, pending the fulfilment of a set of conditions. In July 2020, the Commission presented the draft negotiating framework – the first to take into account the ‘revised methodology for enlargement to the Western Balkans’ that was published in February 2020 – to the Member States. Accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, treated jointly because of a shared positive recommendation from the Commission, were formally opened in July 2022 following long delays that were mainly caused by issues between North Macedonia and Bulgaria relating to identity, language and history.
B. Bosnia and Herzegovina
An SAA with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was already negotiated and signed in June 2008, but its entry into force was frozen, mainly owing to the country’s failure to implement a key ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. The EU’s ‘renewed approach’ to the country, which put more focus on economic governance, allowed the long overdue entry into force of the SAA on 1 June 2015. The country submitted its membership application on 15 February 2016. In May 2019, the Commission published its opinion, including a list of 14 key priorities to be fulfilled by BiH in order for accession negotiations to be opened. These include ensuring the proper functioning of the Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee (SAPC), the parliamentary dimension of the SAA (key priority3). On 30 and 31 October 2023, almost eight years after the first, failed meeting of the SAPC in November 2015, a fully-fledged third EU-BiH SAPC meeting was successfully held in Sarajevo. This led the Commision to conclude in its 2023 country report on BiH that key priority 3 had been delivered on. In the wake of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the EU’s decision in June 2022 to grant candidate country status to Moldova and Ukraine, the European Council decided to also grant candidate country status to BiH in December 2022. On 8 November 2023 the Commission recommended the opening of EU accession negotiations with BiH ‘once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is achieved’.
C. The Republic of North Macedonia
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (now the Republic of North Macedonia) applied for EU membership in March 2004 and was granted EU candidate country status in December 2005. However, the country was unable to open accession negotiations for many years, mainly owing to the dispute with Greece over its use of the name ‘Macedonia’. This dispute was successfully resolved through the ‘Prespa Agreement’ on the country’s new name – the Republic of North Macedonia (or simply North Macedonia for short) – which entered into force in February 2019. Since 2009, the Commission, with the unwavering support of the European Parliament, had invariably recommended that accession negotiations be opened. In June 2018, the Council agreed to the possible opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia in June 2019, provided that the necessary conditions were fulfilled. In March 2020, the Council finally decided to approve the opening of accession negotiations without setting any further conditions. In July 2020, the Commission presented the draft negotiating framework – the first to take into account the ‘revised methodology for enlargement to the Western Balkans’ – to the Member States. Accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, treated jointly because of a shared positive recommendation from the Commission, were formally opened in July 2022 following long delays that were mainly caused by issues between North Macedonia and Bulgaria relating to identity, language and history.
D. Kosovo
Kosovo is a potential candidate for EU accession. It unilaterally declared its independence in February 2008. Five EU Member States (Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain) and two countries in the region (Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) have not recognised Kosovo’s independence. In July 2018, six years after a visa liberalisation roadmap was issued, the Commission confirmed that Kosovo had fulfilled all the criteria. Following protracted interinstitutional negotiations and a final European Parliament vote in April 2023, Kosovars will be able to enjoy visa-free travel to the Schengen area by January 2024 at the latest. After a landmark agreement on normalising relations was reached in April 2013 by Belgrade and Pristina (the ‘Brussels Agreement’), the European Council decided in June 2013 to open negotiations on an SAA with Kosovo, which entered into force on 1 April 2016. Kosovo’s future EU integration – like Serbia’s – remains closely linked to the EU-facilitated dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, which should lead to a legally binding comprehensive agreement on the normalisation of their relations. Kosovo (like Serbia) has yet to start implementing its obligations stemming from a revamped agreement of early 2023 that is meant to rekindle the dialogue.
E. Montenegro
Montenegro, which gained independence in 2006, applied for EU membership in December 2008. It was granted candidate country status in December 2010 and accession negotiations were opened in June 2012. In line with the EU’s ‘new approach’ to the accession process, the crucial chapters on the rule of law – Chapter 23 on judicial reform and fundamental rights and Chapter 24 on freedom, security and justice – were opened at an early stage in the negotiations, in December 2013. To date, all 33 screened negotiating chapters have been opened, of which only three have been provisionally closed. The last remaining key chapter (on competition policy) was opened in June 2020. However, political turmoil and instability in Montenegro has led to the stalling of its EU integration process in recent years.
F. Serbia
Serbia submitted its application for EU membership in December 2009 and was granted candidate country status in March 2012 after Belgrade and Pristina reached an agreement on Kosovo’s regional representation. Accession negotiations were formally opened on 21 January 2014. The first two chapters, including the one on the normalisation of relations with Kosovo, were opened in December 2015. The key chapters on the rule of law, Chapters 23 and 24, were opened on 18 July 2016. To date, 22 out of 35 negotiating chapters have been opened, two of which have been provisionally closed. The four chapters that constitute ‘Cluster Four’ – on the green agenda and sustainable connectivity – were opened in December 2021 after a two-year period without new chapters being opened. No new chapters or clusters have been opened since then. Serbia’s future EU integration – like Kosovo’s – remains closely linked to the EU-facilitated dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, which should lead to a legally binding comprehensive agreement on the normalisation of their relations. Serbia (like Kosovo) has yet to start implementing its obligations stemming from a revamped agreement of early 2023 that is meant to rekindle the dialogue.
Role of the European Parliament
Parliament is fully involved in the SAP and its consent is required for the conclusion of all SAAs (Article 218(6) TFEU). It must also consent to any new accession to the EU (Article 49 TEU). In addition, through its budgetary powers, it has direct influence over the amounts allocated to the IPA. Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs appoints standing rapporteurs for all candidate and potential candidate countries. Parliament expresses its positions on enlargement in the form of annual resolutions responding to the Commission’s latest annual country reports. In June 2020, following the EU-Western Balkans Zagreb Summit (held online), Parliament also issued a set of recommendations on the Western Balkans. On 23 November 2022, it adopted additional recommendations on a new EU strategy for enlargement. Parliament also has bilateral relations with the parliaments of the Western Balkan countries through its delegations, which regularly meet their Western Balkan counterparts to discuss issues relevant to the SAPs and EU accession processes, on average twice a year. When invited, Parliament observes most elections in the Western Balkans and has already done so in all Western Balkan countries. It has also developed a series of activities and programmes on parliamentary democracy and capacity-building that are tailor-made to the needs of Western Balkan partner parliaments. In North Macedonia and Serbia, Parliament has also been facilitating rapprochement between political parties.
André De Munter