WASHINGTON – According to the “Nations in Transit 2023” report published by Freedom House, the 10 non-EU countries classified as hybrid regimes – fall in the gray zone between democracy and autocracy. Democratic institutions in the Western Balkans continued to weaken in 2022. Modest improvements in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia were offset by declines in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia’s score remained unchanged.
At the same time, slow EU accession processes in the Western Balkans have deepened disillusionment with the union and undermined its ability to fuel reforms. The challenges associated with membership have only increased with the addition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Ukraine as official candidates for EU membership.
“As with other hybrid transit country regimes, populations living in non-EU countries in the Western Balkans maintain strong support for membership in the bloc. In 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted EU candidate status, while Kosovo officially submitted its application for consideration. Yet, despite these important indicators of progress, citizens of the Western Balkans feel abandoned by national elites who resist democratic reforms that would weaken their grip on power, and by international elites who lack the determination to see the process through. ‘membership,’ writes FH. .
It is added that unlike Ukraine, where public expectations for membership by 2030 are high, years or even decades of waiting in the Western Balkans have left locals disillusioned about the possibility of ‘a short-term membership.
“Even their long-term hopes are relatively modest: for many in the region, the appeal of EU membership lies more in individual prosperity and the right to travel, work and study abroad – in other words, to leave – only in the right to leave. the prospect of democratic progress in our country. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “around a fifth of the population born in the Western Balkans region six lives abroad, mainly in a handful of OECD member countries,” says the FH report. .
Given the crisis of confidence this exodus represents, it is perhaps unsurprising that democratic institutions in the Western Balkans have continued to weaken in 2022. Modest improvements in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia have been offset by declines in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Serbia. the score remained unchanged.
North Macedonia and Montenegro both experienced serious political dysfunction during the year, but their democratic scores moved in opposite directions.
Political polarization in Montenegro, largely linked to questions of national identity, has led to the collapse of two governments. Additionally, lawmakers pushed through legislation that infringed on citizens’ basic rights, while the Constitutional Court lacked the quorum to review the controversial measures. It is added that the recent defeat of Milo Djukanovic, who has led the country’s political class for more than three decades, during the presidential election of April 2023, has raised hopes of a generational change.
In North Macedonia, equally strong political polarization and parliamentary gridlock have hampered the adoption of laws at the national level, but local governments’ steady improvements in transparency, civic participation, and intermunicipal cooperation have had a noticeable impact positive on democracy and the provision of public services.
Although Albania’s results in Nations in Transit place it near North Macedonia and Montenegro in terms of democratic development, polls suggest that Albanians are more optimistic about the potential of EU membership to bring not only economic prosperity but also an improvement in democratic standards.
Albania’s democratic institutions are strained by clientelist partisan politics, a delayed judicial review process and endemic corruption. The country’s special anti-corruption courts made small progress in fighting corruption in 2022, leading to a slight improvement in the corruption indicator, but there was little scope for further reforms ahead of local elections scheduled in May 2023.
Freedom House said strained relations between Serbia and Kosovo continued to undermine democratic progress in both countries, albeit in different ways.
“Remarkable efforts by Kosovo’s civil society to bring about positive policy change on gender-based violence and ethnic divisions were overshadowed during the year by a surge in violence in the Serb-majority north, where The influence and activities of the Serbian government continue to subvert the full authority of Kosovo. on its territory,” the report states.
Freedom House recalls that in Serbia, the opposition returned to the political field after a 2020 electoral boycott, but that the 2022 presidential and parliamentary elections were once again marred by irregularities, leading to the victory of the Progressive Party Serbian government and President Aleksandar Vučić.
“The region’s autocracies have gradually abandoned or crushed various features – a certain degree of autonomy for local governments, a small body of independent journalists or civic activists, a genuine although closeted opposition party, or a limited space for dissent within the ruling elite…which had previously mitigated the excesses of absolute power. The result, of course, was a series of disastrous policy decisions that cost the lives of citizens and threatened the survival of some of these countries,” the report concludes.