**Despite all the money that the European Union has spent on it in recent years, the rule of law is still far away in the Western Balkans. This is worrying, says the European Court of Auditors**
Six Balkan countries have long wanted to join the European Union. But Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo are not making significant progress in the accession process. There are many reasons for this, but one important obstacle is that none of these countries has yet wholeheartedly embraced the principles of an independent judiciary, a corruption-free civil service and a free press.
These principles, often referred to together as the ‘rule of law’, are sacred to Brussels. It argues that subsidies only work if corruption is punished and everyone can openly criticise the government. That is why Brussels wants the rule of law principles to be respected first before it goes on negotiating with new prospective member states.
**No will to change anything**
The discussion with the six countries on this subject has been going on for more than twenty years now. In all those years, Brussels has given subsidies to carry out the necessary reforms, sometimes large sums. In total, 700 million has already been spent on promoting the rule of law in the six countries.
The European Court of Auditors investigated whether all that money has actually led to improvements. There have been improvements, it found, but one important thing is missing: the political will to actually change. As a result, measures remain technical exercises, without politicians and civil servants really being aware of their necessity.
**Credibility of the EU at stake**
The EU should now be tougher on the Balkan countries, the Court says. If they do not make enough progress, Brussels should also cut other subsidies, such as for road construction or agriculture. “The EU’s support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans has clearly failed to bring about major changes,” Court of Auditors member Juhan Parts said at a press conference on Monday. “This is to the detriment of the EU’s credibility.”
Parts pointed out that in many Western Balkan countries, democracy has actually declined, rather than increased. “These governments are becoming increasingly authoritarian,” Parts said. “Corruption remains widespread and the rule of law is far from independent. The EU has paid too little attention to what reforms have actually achieved.”
In addition to becoming stricter on future subsidies, the EU should also pay closer attention to what actually changes in the country when it demands reforms. “If there is no real result, then the money has not been well spent.”
What if we used that money to bribe the right people to do the right thing?
Doesn’t the EU get tired of being this sanctimonious and pretending moral and legal superiority over everyone else?
LPT: If you want to fix a corrupt government, don’t give them free money
The people of those countries aren’t helping. Many balcan people just assume corruption is the way it is, so they neither vote much for anti-corruption parties not do they decline to participate.
Almost all Balcan people that visit me here, i have to teach them that we don’t cheat with train/bus tickets and just in general cheat every time there is a chance 🙂
Lol did the reporter think that money buys you rule of law.
I completely disagree, it has never been so near.
I mean, of course, it also implies to leave their countries, but with the amount of emigration and the lack of kids in the region, we can assume that in a few years, there will eb more western balkans nationals living in the EU under the rule of law than in the western balkan.
Once these places are deserts, there won’t be any dictatorships anymore, nor problem of rule of law. And with luck no more national identity problems. Tbh, this is also the case for Roumania (-31% population in 30 years) and Bulgaria (-39%), but the western balkans stay at a healthy 25% loss.
It’s because the EU actively supports corrupt pro-EU governments. In Croatia for example, the ruling HDZ party has legit corruption scandals on a weekly basis involving top ministers and legal bodies. HDZ is legally a criminal organisation, they were on court recently for that, yet despite that Ursula took part in HDZ’s pre-election campaign videos.
The EU is pouring money to our dictator’s pockets, while he stifled any kind of democratic institutions for years. He sometimes even got the praise, like last month they opened a negotiation cluster. All the while he’s harassing any kind of opposition to his rule, rampant corruption and incompetence. People are blackmailed or intimidated to vote for his party while he revels in EU support. Pro EU people felt let down and apathetic because of this. How did the EU expected to improve the rule of law by doing this?
EU please continue financing our corrupt leaders
Throwing money on corrupted politicians not making peoples lives better whaaaaat?
11 comments
**Despite all the money that the European Union has spent on it in recent years, the rule of law is still far away in the Western Balkans. This is worrying, says the European Court of Auditors**
Six Balkan countries have long wanted to join the European Union. But Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo are not making significant progress in the accession process. There are many reasons for this, but one important obstacle is that none of these countries has yet wholeheartedly embraced the principles of an independent judiciary, a corruption-free civil service and a free press.
These principles, often referred to together as the ‘rule of law’, are sacred to Brussels. It argues that subsidies only work if corruption is punished and everyone can openly criticise the government. That is why Brussels wants the rule of law principles to be respected first before it goes on negotiating with new prospective member states.
**No will to change anything**
The discussion with the six countries on this subject has been going on for more than twenty years now. In all those years, Brussels has given subsidies to carry out the necessary reforms, sometimes large sums. In total, 700 million has already been spent on promoting the rule of law in the six countries.
The European Court of Auditors investigated whether all that money has actually led to improvements. There have been improvements, it found, but one important thing is missing: the political will to actually change. As a result, measures remain technical exercises, without politicians and civil servants really being aware of their necessity.
**Credibility of the EU at stake**
The EU should now be tougher on the Balkan countries, the Court says. If they do not make enough progress, Brussels should also cut other subsidies, such as for road construction or agriculture. “The EU’s support for the rule of law in the Western Balkans has clearly failed to bring about major changes,” Court of Auditors member Juhan Parts said at a press conference on Monday. “This is to the detriment of the EU’s credibility.”
Parts pointed out that in many Western Balkan countries, democracy has actually declined, rather than increased. “These governments are becoming increasingly authoritarian,” Parts said. “Corruption remains widespread and the rule of law is far from independent. The EU has paid too little attention to what reforms have actually achieved.”
In addition to becoming stricter on future subsidies, the EU should also pay closer attention to what actually changes in the country when it demands reforms. “If there is no real result, then the money has not been well spent.”
What if we used that money to bribe the right people to do the right thing?
Doesn’t the EU get tired of being this sanctimonious and pretending moral and legal superiority over everyone else?
LPT: If you want to fix a corrupt government, don’t give them free money
The people of those countries aren’t helping. Many balcan people just assume corruption is the way it is, so they neither vote much for anti-corruption parties not do they decline to participate.
Almost all Balcan people that visit me here, i have to teach them that we don’t cheat with train/bus tickets and just in general cheat every time there is a chance 🙂
Lol did the reporter think that money buys you rule of law.
I completely disagree, it has never been so near.
I mean, of course, it also implies to leave their countries, but with the amount of emigration and the lack of kids in the region, we can assume that in a few years, there will eb more western balkans nationals living in the EU under the rule of law than in the western balkan.
Once these places are deserts, there won’t be any dictatorships anymore, nor problem of rule of law. And with luck no more national identity problems. Tbh, this is also the case for Roumania (-31% population in 30 years) and Bulgaria (-39%), but the western balkans stay at a healthy 25% loss.
It’s because the EU actively supports corrupt pro-EU governments. In Croatia for example, the ruling HDZ party has legit corruption scandals on a weekly basis involving top ministers and legal bodies. HDZ is legally a criminal organisation, they were on court recently for that, yet despite that Ursula took part in HDZ’s pre-election campaign videos.
The EU is pouring money to our dictator’s pockets, while he stifled any kind of democratic institutions for years. He sometimes even got the praise, like last month they opened a negotiation cluster. All the while he’s harassing any kind of opposition to his rule, rampant corruption and incompetence. People are blackmailed or intimidated to vote for his party while he revels in EU support. Pro EU people felt let down and apathetic because of this. How did the EU expected to improve the rule of law by doing this?
EU please continue financing our corrupt leaders
Throwing money on corrupted politicians not making peoples lives better whaaaaat?