The Western Balkans Roadmap is bringing the Region Closer to the EU
The relevance of the Western Balkans Roadmap for further integration of the Western Balkans in to the EU and its impact on regional cooperation and fight against organized crime has been acknowledged at the EU Western Balkans summit on 18 December 2024 in Brussels.
The discussions in the Summit centered around:
- enhancing the EU-Western Balkans integration through the growth plan;
- deepening EU’s political and policy engagement with the Western Balkans in multiple areas, including foreign and security policy;
- building an economic foundation for the future and mitigating the impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine;
- cooperation in migration management and the fight against corruption and organised crime.
The Brussels Declaration highlights the importance of combatting trafficking of small arms and light weapons and calls on the Western Balkans partners to pursue with the implementation of the Roadmap for a Sustainable Solutions to the Illegal Possession, Misuse and Trafficking of SALW, their Ammunition and Explosives by 2030. The Roadmap 2025-2030 was endorsed on 28 October 2024 at the EU-WB Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial in Budva.
The EU also announced the continuation of financial support to the Western Balkans for two regional projects, one of them to be implemented by SEESAC in the amount of EUR 4 million.
The Western Balkans SALW Control Roadmap was developed by the Western Balkans authorities with SEESAC’s technical support, under the auspices of Germany and France and with the support of the European Union and other relevant actors. It was adopted at the Berlin Process London Summit in July 2018, while the Roadmap for the implementation 2025-2030 was endorsed by the Western Balkans Ministers of Interior during the EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum on Justice and Home Affairs in October 2024.
The summit is part of the implementation of the European Council’s 2024-2029 strategic agenda.