The benefits of bringing the Western Balkans into the European Semester

Summary:

To help structure its discussions on economic, social and structural issues with European Union (EU) candidate countries, the European Commission put in place in 2014 an instrument centred around so-called National Economic Reform Programmes (ERPs), which those countries submit to the Commission. Currently, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey participate in this process, which resembles to some extent the European Union’s European Semester economic surveillance process.

The process also includes an annual summit – the Economic and Financial Dialogue – involving representatives from the EU, the Western Balkan countries and Türkiye and the European Commission. Central bank representatives – the European Central Bank and the central banks of the Western Balkans and Türkiye – also participate. The ultimate aim is to integrate the Western Balkan countries and Türkiye into the European Semester.

In this context it is worth asking if this process could be merged into the European Semester, thus including the Western Balkan countries ahead of their EU entry.