WASHINGTON – The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved on Tuesday the Western Balkans Act proposal. The bill will then be voted on by the Senate, where it requires a simple majority (51 votes).   The proposed bill mentions that corruption remains a problem in the Western Balkans and one of the biggest obstacles to the economic and political development of the region.   “The Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act” was submitted to the Senate in May of last year by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). According to the bill proposal, it aims to “encourage increas ..read more

STRASBOURG – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted yesterday with 131 votes in favor, 29 against and 11 abstentions to recommend that Kosovo be invited to become a member of the Council of Europe. The Committee of Ministers, the organisation’s executive body of Foreign Ministers, will make the final decision on Kosovo’s membership, which will require a two-thirds majority. The next meeting of the Committee of Ministers is scheduled for 16 and 17 May, though its agenda has not been announced yet. Some media, including Radio Free Europe, have reported that, though the neces ..read more

BRUSSELS – Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union, nominated 44 new Heads of EU Delegations today, including new EU Ambassadors to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia, as well as the EU Head of Office to Kosovo. The Ambassadors will take their offices later this year. In addition to this, Miroslav Lajčák has been nominated as the new EU Ambassador to Switzerland, after his term as the Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue expires this year. Borut Pahor, former President of Slovenia, has been officially endorsed by his national governme ..read more

BRUSSELS – The Committee of the Permanent Representatives (COREPER) agreed on Monday to amend the negotiating chapter 35 with Serbia to include the obligations from the 2023 Brussels agreement and its annex from Ohrid, North Macedonia. The issue was on the agenda of COREPER on 15 April and, according to Radio Free Europe, it was adopted unanimously. The amendments to the negotiating position of the European Union need to be adopted by the Council of the European Union, for which COREPER is a preparatory body. The next General Affairs Council is scheduled for 21 May, but its agenda has n ..read more

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