International IDEA hosted an online roundtable discussion on the latest Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices conclusions on the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), on February 10, 2023.
The discussion brought together a panel of leading thinkers and experts from think tanks, foundations and NGOs in the region, and was attended by 120 participants. The discussion focused on the way forward for the Western Balkans to protect and reinvigorate democracy across the region. The video of the event can be found here YouTube link.
The event began with the opening speech by Mr.Sam van der Staakdirector of the European regional program of International IDEA and DrGiulio Venneri, team leader in the Rule of Law and Democracy team of the Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) of the European Commission. These remarks provided an overview of the challenges facing democracy in the region – identifying the factors behind the subversion of democracy from without, but also from within – as well as recent positive signals.
Key Takeaways from the Opening Remarks
- Positive developments have taken place recently with regard to EU enlargement, including accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, the granting of candidate country status to Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2022 and the recent announcement of a visa liberalization schedule for Kosovo.
- The European Commission has urged countries to implement key democratic reforms to meet their membership aspirations, demonstrating the clear link between EU membership and the consolidation of democracy.
- The revised methodology for EU accession can be an opportunity to strengthen work on democracy, as it places increasing importance on the functioning of democratic institutions.
- The main pillars of action identified by the European Commission include electoral processes, the functioning of Parliament and civil society.
- There were also calls for increased political will for rule of law reforms and the development of a strategic approach to combating corruption across all sectors, particularly in the most vulnerable sectors. to corruption, which require more targeted measures.
Next, International IDEA’s Democracy Assessment team provided presentations on the most important trends in democratic performance according to the GSoD indices. The presentations examined data from the GSoD indices at the global, European and Western Balkans levels of analysis.
Key Takeaways from the International IDEA Democracy Assessment Team Presentations
- In the Western Balkans, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia are ranked among average-performing democracies by the GSoD indices. Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are considered weak democracies. Serbia is the region’s only hybrid regime and one of Europe’s five non-democracies. The majority of the population of the Western Balkans (61%) lives in a democracy. Impartial administration is the only one of the five key democratic attributes in the GSoD indices with low-performing countries in the Western Balkans (including Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina). Kosovo recorded a significant increase compared to 2016 and 2011, becoming the strongest in the region in this attribute. In 2021, Kosovo performed above the Central European average in impartial administration. Serbia has declined significantly in government control, going from the strongest in the region to the weakest in the space of 10 years. Otherwise, there has been great stagnation. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia experienced a significant decline in media integrity.
- Although democracy remains the main form of government in Europe, its performance is stagnating, and in many cases eroding, while 43 percent of democracies in Europe have suffered erosion over the past five years and 49 percent of all Europeans live in an eroding democracy. . At the same time, Europe’s undemocratic regimes have become even more consolidated over the past year.
- Democracy is in decline all over the world and the quality of existing democracies is declining: fifty-two democracies are considered to be eroding in 2021, compared to only 12 democracies in 2012. In addition, democratic growth is at the point death and it is obvious that public support for authoritarian values is growing. The presentations highlighted some signs of hope and examples of democratic expansion around the world.
The presentations were followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer session with audience members. The panelists identified both external and internal challenges facing Western Balkan countries. The distinguished panel was composed of:
Key takeaways from the roundtable and Q&A session
- The proper functioning of democracy was not undermined by a single dramatic act, but by a series of small measures, including diminished checks on power, limited meaningful opposition and weakened investigative journalism.
- There is a lack of international political attention to the region. Panelists highlighted the importance of Western allies in reducing ethnic tensions in the Western Balkans and expressed that there cannot be continued progress in the region without support from the EU and/or the United States .
- Panelists saw Russian aggression in Ukraine as a massive test for the EU in defending democracy. The future of the Western Balkans will be determined by the war in Ukraine, where victory will allow the region to flourish, while conversely, defeat will bring it a bleak future.
- The panelists also underlined the EU’s responsibility: given that membership in the bloc is the strategic goal of many countries in the region, the EU must clarify its enlargement strategy. Panelists highlighted a problem in which EU officials neglect firm commitments to democracy, while praising governments for small progress. Finally, EU interventions should address the long term rather than focusing on short-term solutions.
- Significant internal problems identified by the panel in the Western Balkans include lack of hope among young people, leading to an exodus from the region, lack of public trust in institutions and shrinking civic space.
- There are many positive examples of local movements and civic initiatives in the region. Additionally, civic education is growing, which helps people become aware of and engage with politics. The priority should not be that civic initiatives become institutionalized or long-term, but rather that they emerge, self-organize and show awareness of their context. Civil society can play a role in reaching out to disengaged populations and combating declining voter turnout.
- Democracy should not be taken for granted. Democracy must be treated as a verb, not as something that survives on its own, but as something that requires each of us to act. It is worrying that the number of democracies in the world is in decline, but the more worrying finding is the reduction in the number of democrats, ie. supporters of democratic institutions and processes. Positive cases in the region share a key ingredient: people dedicated to democracy.
- The panelists expressed hope that the future of the Western Balkans will have more democrats and hope to see the expansion of societies that uphold democratic values. Democracy depends on the ability of societies to increase the number of people who fight for the value of democracy in their country.
Watch the event below
For any inquiries, please contact:
Blerta Hoxha, program manager, Europe regional program at B.Hoxha@idea.int
Gentiana Gola, Program Officer, Democracy Evaluation Unit at G.Gola@idea.int