Despite the high corruption levels, observed through SELDI’s 2021 Corruption Monitoring System (CMS), the Western Balkan countries continue to lack a coherent approach to tackling the problem. A number of institutional and legal improvements have been made in the framework of the EU accession (e.g. vetting of the justice system, increased length of sentences, linking the value of bribes and the punishment, defining subtler forms of corruption, regulation of the origin of assets of public officials, adopting conflict of interest legislation and lobbying laws). Still, the newly adopted laws and strategies, and the newly created specialised institutions are yet to bear fruit in decreasing corruption.
The current policy brief further underlines that anti-corruption plans are being implemented in an uncoordinated manner, with responsibilities being split among multiple institutions, and promotes the sharing of good practices among the Western Balkan countries.
