Report says EU support for rule of law in Western Balkans ineffective

Palata pravde Car Dušan
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The European Court of Auditors said in a report that European Union support for rule of law in the Western Balkans has not brought about fundamental reforms.

“EU action has had little impact in advancing fundamental rule of law reforms in the Western Balkans. Some technical and operational reforms have taken place in the region. But in a context of insufficient political will and a lack of engagement, EU support has been largely insufficient to tackle persistent problems in areas such as the independence of the judiciary, the concentration of power, political interference, and corruption”, the report said.

Report author Juhan Parts said that “EU support for the rule of law in Western Balkans has clearly not been successful in bringing about wholesale change”. “The modest progress made over the last 20 years threatens the overall sustainability of the EU support provided under the accession process. Constant reforms lose credibility if they do not deliver tangible results,” he said.

According to the report EU candidate countries Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia and potential candidates Bosnia-and-Herzegovina and Kosovo continue to face issues in rule of law and fundamental rights. It said that the EU has helped the implement reforms for more than 20 years, providing financial support worth some 700 million Euro between 2014 and 2020 as well as helping with a political dialogue.

The European Commission welcomed the ECA report which, it said, acknowledges that EU support contributed to reforms leading to some positive developments including improving the efficiency of the judiciary and developing legislation in some Western Balkan countries, adding that rule of law remains the cornerstone of the accession process. “The Commission will continue to engage with the Western Balkan partners to help advance reforms and consolidate the rule of law across the region. The recommendations of the European Court of Auditors are a useful contribution to these vital efforts.

The report said that the key risks to the sustainable impact of EU action remain insufficiently mitigated and the measures to address weak administrative capacity and political will are too few and often ineffective and that support for civil society is insufficient and mostly based on short-term projects.

“The EU has too rarely exploited the possibility of suspending assistance if a beneficiary fails to observe the basic principles of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights,” the report said.