The area is strategic for the nearby internationalization of SMEs within shortened European industrial supply chains
By Federico Piazza
European funding for 2024–2027 for the six Western Balkan countries in the process of EU accession and pre-accession has been increased by 40%. Six billion euros, of which four billion in loans and two billion in grants, are added to the 14 billion already available.
The package, included in the mid-term revision of the EU budget, aims to stimulate economic growth in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
Among the essential points of the plan is the economic integration of the Western Balkans into the European single market on free movement of goods, services and workers, SEPA electronic payments, road transport facilitation, energy markets and decarbonization, digital markets, and industrial supply chains. The completion of the common regional market and the implementation in various countries of reforms in line with EU requirements on the rule of law and judicial system, and measures that improve business attractiveness are also necessary.
However, the implementation of the plan is not without difficulties. From a technical point of view, the European Court of Auditors has warned that “there is a risk that the disbursement conditions are not ambitious enough and that the indicators are not sufficiently clear and measurable, and it also remains difficult to ensure the sustainability of reforms, especially considering the weak administrative capacity of the region.” While from a political point of view, the accession process is slowed down by the difficult normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo and the weak governance problems of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, not all 27 EU member states consider accelerating enlargement to the Western Balkans a priority.
The time horizon indicated by the President of the European Council Charles Michel is 2030. But it can also be done earlier.
The centrality of the Balkans and the Mediterranean in Italy’s economic strategies is underlined by Roberto Corciulo, president and CEO of the business internationalization consulting company IC&Partners from Udine, Italy: “I appreciate that Italy has finally made the political choice to focus on the Balkans and North Africa. The Balkans in particular are a territory with respectable aggregate numbers in terms of Italian companies operating there and economic volumes and employment of personnel. And they continue to be a choice of great interest for the nearby internationalization of companies in various sectors.” According to Corciulo, the focus on Europe by Italian companies will increase further, because the rapidly changing global geopolitical and macroeconomic framework and the ongoing processes of shortening supply chains lead especially medium-small enterprises to choose to operate in closer, safer markets, where there can also be an exchange of innovation. In particular, in addition to the Balkans, “Poland, Spain and the Nordic countries offer concrete growth prospects in Europe.”
