Identifying Inconsistencies in the 2022 European Commission’s Country Reports for WB6
Identifying Inconsistencies in the 2022 European Commission’s Country Reports for WB6

Author(s): Strahinja Subotić, Miloš Pavković
Subject(s): Political Theory, Governance, Government/Political systems, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Centar za evropske politike CEP
Keywords: European Commission; 2022 Country Reports; Western Balkans (WB6); Reporting inconsistencies; Policy evaluation; Democratic institutions; Governance; European integration;
Summary/Abstract: The European Commission’s annual reports on the state of play of reforms within negotiating chapters, applicable to all (potential) candidates, play a pivotal role in evaluating their commitment to EU integration. Moreover, these reports serve as the basis for the EU Council’s decisions to open clusters or close chapters during the negotiation process. Yet, in practice, there is an increasingly evident rift between these two EU institutions. It has now become a customary practice for the Council to diverge from the Commission’s opinions in cases where it positively assesses a country’s progress in reforms and recommends advancing its accession process. Although, at times, the Council’s lack of affirmative decisions can be attributed to the unilateral misuse of the process by a single member state, member states continue to demonstrate a notable level of mistrust when it comes to the Commission’s approach to reform monitoring and assessment. This is compounded by the fear that the Commission’s reports tend to paint a brighter picture than what is observed through the individual and separate scoping missions of member states. Similarly, civil society organisations (CSOs) from the region have also actively and repeatedly called for the Commission’s findings to become consistent and evidence-based, in order to render the annual reports more objective, accurate, impartial, verifiable, and comparable. It is, therefore, crucial to improve the Commission’s approach to tracking reforms and ensure greater credibility of its reports.

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