BARBORA CHRZOVÁ

Prague Security Studies Institute, June 2019

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The policy paper suggests several recommendations for new Commission’s and European External Action Service’s (EEAS) strategy towards the region based on research done within the PSSI-led project, ‘Western Balkans at the Crossroads: Assessing Non-Democratic Actors Influences.’

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It asserts that the EU should openly communicate its perspective on the prospective enlargement of the Western Balkans with local representatives, as well as its Member States. It should make communication a priority in its strategy towards the region, and invest in self-promotion to improve its visibility, instead of relying only on its ‘natural’ attractiveness. It should support research, independent journalism and awareness-raising initiatives on external influence activities and their causes and consequences both through funding mechanisms and capacities building. It should also engage actors in civil society, encourage the cultivation of a democratic environment to hold local leaders more accountable and limit their ability to exploit relations with non-Western countries for personal gains and power consolidation.

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Read the policy paper here.