In July 2023, NATO extended the mandate of Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg until 1 October 2024, bringing his term in office to exactly 10 years. The selection of his successor is underway, but there is no formal procedure – the process takes place through diplomatic consultations and the decision is only announced when the consensus is reached. Several names have been mentioned as potential successors to Stoltenberg in recent years. Since last autumn, two leaders have openly thrown their hats in the ring – the caretaker Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte and the President of Ro ..read more

Authorities in Montenegro expect to receive IBAR – Interim Benchmark Assessment Report for Chapters 23 and 24 related to the rule of law in June. In February 2020, Montenegro accepted the new enlargement methodology, according to which no chapter can be temporarily closed until the IBAR is obtained. Obtaining IBAR indicates that the country has made progress in areas like judiciary and that is ready for the phase in the accession process. About the Montenegro’s accession process, progress in rule of law and challenges on the road to full EU membership we spoke with Maida Gorčević, Minis ..read more

BRUSSELS – The Council presidency and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on setting up a Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans. The Facility is the centrepiece of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans presented by the Commission in November 2023. The Facility will cover the period from 2024 to 2027 and is expected to provide up to €2 billion in grants and €4 billion in loans to the EU’s Western Balkan partners. It will complement the existing Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III), considerably increasing financial assistance to partne ..read more

In early January, Dušan B., a 24-year-old student of medicine from Mitrovica North was accepted by the Maribor University Medical Centre for a three-month student exchange that was part of the Erasmus+ Programme. Happy to be awarded with the scholarship, he was ready to take this lifetime opportunity to advance his education and knowledge at one of the European universities. However, Dušan knows that for him it is much more difficult to get Schengen visa to travel freely to Slovenia than to get fully funded scholarship that covers all the expenses. Despite living in Mitrovica North all his l ..read more

This piece was originally published on BiEPAG blog. The 2024 presidential elections in North Macedonia are shaping up to be the closest contested elections in recent memory, while simultaneous parliamentary elections provide additional programs and up the stakes in the contest. As the presidential candidates’ campaigns draw to a close, citizens have a wide spectrum of candidates to choose from, whose political positions stretch from the far left to the far right. Considering the party endorsements for these candidates this dual election is shaping up to be particularly challenging for the ..read more

Last week, the European Commission published a new Communication on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews, contributing to the ongoing discussion on how to get ready for a larger Union. According to the document, this step kicks off the work on the in-depth policy reviews which will be carried out in early 2025. “Enlargement is in the Union’s own strategic interest”, the document assesses. It adds, however, that its benefits can only materialize when both the EU and future Member States are well-prepared. The Communication looks at the implications of a larger EU in four main areas – va ..read more

Political polarization is a part of each democracy. But once a single, “Us versus Them” division becomes predominant and overshadows other ties, it begins to harm democracy. This type of harmful, pernicious polarization is becoming increasingly prominent across the world, and its root is the unresponsiveness of the current political systems to the needs of many people. In order to overcome it, truly reformist politics is needed – but this is by no means easy to achieve. These are some of the conclusions of Murat Somer, professor of Political Science and International Relations at Ozyegi ..read more

In November last year, the European Commission presented the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, an economic program aimed at reducing the socio-economic gap between EU member states and the Western Balkans, further integration countries of the region within the framework of the Common Regional Market (CRM) and preparing for the region’s inclusion in the EU single market. For this purpose, the EU will allocate 6 billion euros, of which two billion will be in the form of grants and four of loans with favourable terms. The EU’s goal is to double Western Balkan economies over the next ten year ..read more

Last week, the European Union agreed to open membership negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, eight years after the country first applied for EU membership. The European Commission had previously assessed that BiH made sufficient progress in aligning with the EU’s standards for opening accession talks. European Western Balkans spoke with Adi Ćerimagić, Senior Analyst at European Stability Initiative (ESI), about the significance of this decision, the future reform process and the European future of Bosnia and Herzegovina. European Western Balkans: How do you assess the message ..read more

BRUSSELS – The Council of the European Union decided on Monday to extend the framework for restrictive measures in view of the situation in BiH for another two years, until 31 March 2026. “The EU will therefore keep its ability to impose targeted restrictive measures on individuals or entities who undermine the sovereignty, territorial integrity, constitutional order and international personality of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, the Council has announced on its official website. It is added that measures can also be imposed against those who seriously threaten the security situation in the c ..read more