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In the context of the wars in Ukraine and other parts of the world, the increasingly global effects – material and political – of war make it more important than ever to measure the level of threats to peace, security and democracy around the world. The Normandy Index has presented an annual measurement of these threats since the 2019 Normandy Peace Forum. The results of the 2025 exercise suggest the level of threats to peace is at its highest since the index was launched, confirming declining trends ...

Regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations are key elements of the EU accession process for all Western Balkan countries. The dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, initiated in 2011 and facilitated by the EU, achieved some initial success, such as the Brussels Agreement of 2013. Following a flare-up of border tensions in July 2022 and a Franco-German initiative in November 2022, in February 2023 the EU presented and brokered a proposal for an Agreement on the path to normalisation between ...

Slovakia is set to receive €6 408.5 million, solely in grants, to implement its national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP), representing 6.8 % of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019. That grant allocation includes the revised Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) grant allocation (€6 005.8 million), REPowerEU grants (€366.4 million), and a transfer of the country's remaining share from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (€36.3 million). On 8 May 2025, the European Commission adopted ...

The Pact for the Mediterranean was announced in the Commission political guidelines for 2024-2029 and adopted on 16 October 2025. It is a new strategic framework proposed by the European Union (EU) to strengthen cooperation with southern Mediterranean partners and build a more integrated, stable, and prosperous Common Mediterranean Space. Launched on the 30th anniversary of the 1995 Barcelona Declaration, this Pact was presented as an 'ambitious paradigm shift' in Euro-Mediterranean relations – moving ...

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have governed the country since 2012 with a heavy concentration of power, media control and a weak system of checks and balances. Serbia is marked by deep political polarisation and popular discontent. In December 2023, Serbia held snap parliamentary elections, just 20 months after the previous elections, which brought SNS a larger-than-expected victory: SNS won 46.7 %, far ahead of the newly formed opposition coalition ...

Albania has been an EU candidate country since June 2014. On 25 March 2020, the Council decided to open accession negotiations with the country, based on its progress in meeting the political criteria and fulfilling the five priorities that are key for EU membership. Accession negotiations effectively started in July 2022, when the first intergovernmental conference was held. The main challenges are flaws in the functioning of the judiciary, in the fight against corruption, and in the safeguarding ...

North Macedonia gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The country applied for EU membership in March 2004 and was granted EU candidate status in December 2005. As part of the June 2018 Prespa Agreement, the country changed its name to Republic of North Macedonia ('North Macedonia' in short), in exchange for Greece ending its veto on the country's EU and NATO accessions. The first intergovernmental conference on 19 July 2022 marked the beginning of accession negotiations. The newly ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 3.2 million, became independent from the former Yugoslavia on 3 March 1992, following a referendum that was boycotted by ethnic Serbs. The country was offered an EU membership perspective at the EU–Western Balkans summit in Thessaloniki in 2003. Building on the European Commission's recommendation of 12 March 2024, the European Council decided on 21 March to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Parliament's Committee on ...

Montenegro began EU accession negotiations in 2012. In April 2023, after securing 59 % of votes in a presidential election run-off, Montenegro's pro-European former Economy Minister Jakov Milatović declared victory over the incumbent, Milo Đukanović, who had been president or prime minister for more than three decades. The current Prime Minister, Milojko Spajić, leader of the political party 'Europe Now!', took office in October 2023. The European Commission's latest report notes that the government ...

Türkiye has long been a strategic partner of the EU on migration, security, and trade. However, following the attempted coup in 2016, Türkiye's democratic backsliding led the Council to freeze its accession negotiations in 2018. Although relations have since thawed, the EU is exploring a more realistic framework for bilateral relations. Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted its report on the 2023 and 2024 Commission reports on Türkiye on 9 April 2025. A debate and vote on the report ...