The new BiEPAG policy study has shown that the state of democracy and freedom has been backsliding or stagnating in the countries of the Western Balkans over the past decade. Through exploring the signs of democratic regression across the region, this document underlines that concepts such as “illiberal democracy” or “competitive authoritarianism” are in the rise. The study finds that the recent rise of illiberal tendencies in several EU member states has called into question the EU’s transformative power of its enlargement policy. This is particularly obvious in the Western Balkans, where the EU is failing to live up to its promise to deliver democracy to those countries engaged in the process of joining the Union. The study is available for download here.
Source: BiEPAG