Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are close to reaching EU accession standards, but the other Western Balkan states require further reforms

While Croatia joined the EU in 2013, progress toward the accession of the other non-EU states in the Western Balkans has varied from country to country. Milenko Petrovic and Nicholas Ross Smith provide an overview of developments in these states along several dimensions including democracy, economic transition and corruption. They note that Western Balkan states can essentially be split into two groups: Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, who are close to EU accession standards; and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo*, who are still some way off meeting these standards. Nevertheless, they argue that the EU should continue to pursue close engagement with the ‘bottom three’ to help facilitate their reforms.