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The EU adopted a new enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans countries in 2018, provided a time frame for Serbia and Montenegro potentially to join the Union by 2025, and outlined the next steps for accession for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. In March 2020, the EU gave the green light to the opening of accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, and also introduced a new reformed ‘accession talks’ framework. The strengthening of the rule of law, fighting corruption and organised crime are the cornerstones of the EU-Western Balkans strategy of 2018 and the new accession talks framework of 2020. This article examines the latest enlargement policy developments in 2018–2020 by conceptualising how the EU promotes the rule of law in the Western Balkans thorough its new enlargement policy package. Furthermore, the article offers an in-depth analysis of the case of Albania, where the EU has experimented with some of its latest enlargement-policy ideas in regard to the rule of law. The article also offers some proposals and insights on how the EU rule of law initiative of 2018 can be improved, in order to become more transformative in strengthening the rule of law in countries of the Western Balkans.

This contribution aims to introduce the reader to a judgment from the Court of Justice of the European Union on the rule of law conditionality regulation in the two cases of Hungary v Parliament and Council (C-156/21) and Poland v Parliament and Council (C-157/21). The judgment expands our understanding of the legality and application of the regime of conditionality for the protection of the European Union budget provided by the Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092. On the other hand, the Court of Justice of the European Union in C-156/21 and in C-157/21 has now defined how the European Union can legally cut funds to Member States in the case of an established violation of the rule of law, if this violation endangers the EU budget. Despite having a new tool to sanction violations of the rule of law by its Member States, the European Union still lacks the political will to do so. This contribution discusses the importance of the rule of law conditionality regulation in C-156/21 and C-157/21, and what it means to not only to uphold the rule of law, but also fight against corruption in areas associated with Union’s budget and financial interests.

This article offers a comparative analysis of the covid-19 legal measures and model of governance adopted in the Western Balkans countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo) and its impact on the state of the rule of law, and ability of parliament and civil society to scrutinise government decisions. The article assesses the governments’ approaches to introducing and enforcing covid-19 legal measures, and shows examples of how covid-19 has exposed more openly the weaknesses in the existing system of checks and balances in the Western Balkans. The article offers new insights into how covid-19 presented a new opportunity for leaders in the Western Balkans to implement further their authoritarian model of governance in undermining the rule of law. This article offers suggestions on how the EU could respond, through its accession conditionality instruments and civil society, to redirect this trend towards more state capture.

The EU and the Western Balkans in 2020 launched a regional economic integration initiative entitled ‘The Western Balkans Common Regional Market’, aimed at economically integrating the Western Balkans based on the EU Single Market rules by 2025. The economic integration initiative has been met with challenges, and this contribution provides an assessment of EU-led initiatives to promote economic integration within the Western Balkans between 2014 and 2021, analysing some of the challenges to ensuring that the Western Balkans Common Regional Market is operational by 2025. The contribution conceptualises the mode of governance approach used by the EU in engaging with the Western Balkans since 2014 and suggests that it is largely based on soft law. The contribution finds that the action plan for establishing a regional common market is flawed, as it has not taken on board the high level of corruption and the lack of rule of law in the Western Balkans. The contribution provides new insights into the nature of corruption taking place in the Western Balkans and argues that corruption and the lack of the rule of law could be a major barrier for the proper function of the regional common market. Western Balkans, Berlin Process, Common Market, Open Balkan, Corruption, Rule of Law, Economic Integration, European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Policy