During the GLOBSEC 2023 forum which took place in Bratislava from 29 to 31 May, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new initiative for the Western Balkans. “To a certain extent, this is a new approach for the European Union: We do not only ask our partners to take new steps towards us. We also take a big step towards them,” von der Leyen stressed.
The “new growth plan for the Western Balkans” includes four types of measures:
1. bringing the region closer to the EU single market;
2. deepening regional economic integration;
3. accelerating fundamental reforms;
4. boosting pre-accession funds.
Considerable progress has been made in recent months, on which it is necessary to build a path to European integration that can already offer the people of the Western Balkans some of the advantages of EU membership, said von der Leyen.
With the single market cooperation the region would have the opportunity to join the EU ‘s digital single market in areas such as e-commerce or cybersecurity and enhance the regional common market to attract European investors.
However, the countries of the Western Balkans will need to implement some key reforms to ensure greater transparency in the judiciary, public procurement and step up the fight against corruption, to be able to fully benefit from the new EU initiative.
Von der Leyen assured that the Union will allocate more funding in the pre-accession period, underlining the strong need for investment in the Western Balkans. “These investments will make people´s lives better. And they will also smooth the way into our Union,” said EC President.
“The Western Balkan region has a huge potential to diversify away from Russian fossil fuels. But it needs to increase energy efficiency, step up diversification and accelerate the deployment of more renewables.” In this way, six countries of the Western Balkans, including Albania, can achieve both: “energy independence from Russia and closer alignment with the European Union to speed up accession”.
