On Thursday 6 July, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) shared the European Commission’s mixed assessment of the progress of reforms in the Western Balkans in 2022. The CoR also added requests for the EU to continue to pay greater attention to the functioning of local and regional authorities in EU candidate countries.
Overall, the CoR believes that the European Commission’s reports on the state of reforms in 2022 highlight that problems relating to the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, corruption and organised crime remain major concerns in the Western Balkan countries. However, the CoR acknowledges that progress has been made in North Macedonia and Albania.
Conversely, the Committee of the Regions members have expressed their concern about the current political crises in Bosnia and Herzegovina (see EUROPE 13216/11) and called on leaders to “double their efforts to find solutions regarding the establishment of an association of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo” (see EUROPE 13213/4).
The CoR estimates that around two-thirds of the European legislation to be adopted by EU candidate countries requires action by regions and cities. It believes the emphasis should be on greater cooperation between central governments and local and regional authorities, particularly in the areas of economic development, public administration reform, agriculture, the ecological transition, public procurement and social policies.
“We cannot discuss enlargement without taking account of the local dimension, because local communities, towns and regions are key players in European integration. In particular, local and regional governments play an important role as an anchor of stability”, commented the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi.
View the document: https://aeur.eu/f/7z4 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)