On 21 January ALDA and the Balkan Network for Local Democracy (BNLD) held a meeting with representatives from the European Commission. The staff of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) working on Western Balkans had the chance to get to know better the Projects ALDA and the Local Democracy Agencies (LDAs) are implementing in the Region as well as the feedbacks from the activities we have been carrying on at the local level.

Education and training are the tools that every country needs to prepare a given generation for the future. The success of the youth depends on the quality of their education, training, opportunities and rights. People coming from the Balkans are facing serious difficulties to integrate universities and training courses located within the European Union. 

The Balkan Network for Local Democracy is launching a Call for developer or software company to create a phone application on local tourism in the Western Balkans within the Cultural tours in Western Balkans - “Cultours” project.

Opening chapters and fulfilling criteria in the European Union negotiations have been one of the main focus in the political progress of Western Balkan countries. Countries are aiming to coordinate the state of their progress with the criteria that EU has set, but deviations from the ideal model are more than present, and visible as well. When countries have a model to follow, it is quite simple to notice the amount of divergences that are putting a huge pause on any kind of progress. Western Balkan countries are lacking quality social policy, and the ones they are currently implementing are deviating from the goals that are set in Chapter 19 in the EU accession negotiations.

What’s inside EC Progress report 2020 and Economic and Investment Plan for Western Balkan.

On October 6th, the European Commission has published the 2020 Progress reports for the countries of Western Balkans as well as an Economic and Investment Plan for the Region. 

On the 10 July 2020 at 2PM, the European Association for Local Democracy Agencies is organising a webinar on the topic Western Balkans’ local authorities in EU accession and the Berlin process.