VIENNA – Western Balkan countries share similar environmental, economic and social constraints in the face of the challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is reflected in their path to EU accession, says the latest Policy Brief. “Bringing sustainability to the Western Balkans region”, published within the “WB2EU” network.
The Policy Brief recalls that the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which constitute the new ambitious benchmark for scientifically assessing the progress made by each country in terms of sustainable growth. The high importance of the SDGs has influenced a wide range of EU policies, including enlargement and accession. Despite the significant policy progress made so far, it is clear that very few countries in the Western Balkans appear on track to achieve the SDGs, says the policy brief.
“Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely undermined the path to sustainable transition, not only in the region but across the world, halting, and in some cases even reversing, the progress made by some countries and the community international,” notes the guidance note.
The pandemic has exposed Western Balkan countries to several socio-economic vulnerabilities and strained already struggling public finances. Additionally, these countries have experienced a further deterioration in their labor market indicators, which could worsen social and political tensions, the authors explain.
“The European Commission’s assessment reflects a stronger – but under control – tendency to rely on deficit financing in all Western Balkan countries and, in some cases, such as in Kosovo and North Macedonia, a questionable investment strategy” mentions the Policy Brief.
The policy brief highlights that in the European Sustainable Development Report 2021 it is mentioned that the SDGs have provided a useful framework for constructive dialogue and exchanges between the EU and the Western Balkan candidate countries.
“The synergy between the EU and the United Nations (UN) in the region is therefore essential to understand the latest socio-economic developments,” notes the Policy Brief.
The Policy Brief highlights, through its comparative analysis of indicators of socio-economic progress towards the SDGs, that all EU candidate countries and potential candidates experienced a reduction in the risk of poverty or social exclusion between 2015 and 2020 Additionally, a second indicator addresses child mortality, including ending preventable newborn deaths by 2030, showing that all countries experienced a rapid decline in the infant mortality rate between 2009 and 2020.
Furthermore, another area to assess progress concerns the doubling of the global rate of improvement in energy intensity, where the bulk of EU-WB cooperation revolves around the Community Energy Treaty. All Western Balkan countries improved their energy efficiency between 2009 and 2020, says the Policy Brief.
“Despite efficiency gains, the amount of energy needed to produce a unit of GDP remained considerably higher in candidate and potential candidate countries than in the EU: energy intensity ratios were typically 2-4 times higher than for the EU in 2020. This overall picture has been assessed negatively by the EU, not only because it has deviated from the SDGs, but also because of its negative impact on the environment and employment,” explains the Policy Brief.
The launch of a Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, based on the EU Green Deal, reaffirmed the fundamental objective of moving towards clean and affordable energy. Furthermore, the Policy Brief reminds us that in the years to come, we will need to move towards even greater integration of energy networks and strengthen the coordination of integrated policies for the whole of South-Eastern Europe in order to promote energy efficiency and the green transition.
Another measure of progress is the proportion of young people (aged 15 to 24) who are neither working nor in education, the NEET rate. The European Commission has made tackling this phenomenon a priority, but the NEET rate was significantly higher in all candidate and potential candidate countries than in the EU, where it stood at 15%, explains the Policy Brief .
Finally, the Policy Brief mentions that the European Commission’s objective is to create a harmonized European-wide rule for connectivity services where the Western Balkans seem ready to achieve the UN objectives, despite a lack of infrastructure. inadequate network.
The authors recommend that transnational cooperation between countries in the Western Balkans region is necessary as a first step to advance the SDGs. Second, a transnational renewable energy network must be seen as a vital security infrastructure for the independence and autonomy of the entire region, even if investments in this area have been delayed. Finally, Western Balkan countries should relax their mobility rules and agree specific arrangements for students and workers wanting to spend time abroad to reduce the percentage of NEET rates and other social problems, concludes the document.
The Policy Brief is published as part of the WB2EU project. The project aims to establish a network of renowned think tanks, working groups, universities, higher education institutes and policy centers from the Western Balkans, neighboring countries and EU Member States that will be the most decisive for the process of enlargement and Europeanization of the European Union. the region in the years to come. The WB2EU project is co-financed by the European Commission as part of its Erasmus+ Jean Monnet programme.