The European Union and six Western Balkans partners signed a joint declaration in Brussels to expand collaboration in research and innovation, linking scientific cooperation to the region's long-running bid for EU membership. The agreement, reached at a ministerial meeting marking 20 years of the Western Balkans Steering Platform on Research and Innovation, sets the stage for a new joint Action Plan covering research careers and innovation ecosystems.
What the declaration covers
The agreement was endorsed by representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia alongside the European Commission. It commits both sides to strengthen research careers, support innovation ecosystems, and draft a follow-up Action Plan detailing concrete steps. The meeting, hosted by EU Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva and co-chaired by Ireland's Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless, was themed "Research and Innovation as accelerators for EU integration."
Commissioner Zaharieva described the declaration as opening "a new chapter" in EU-Western Balkans cooperation, while EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos called the research partnership "a win-win for both sides already ahead of EU membership," framing it as a model of gradual integration for candidate countries.
Two decades of groundwork
This year's meeting coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Steering Platform, established in 2006 to connect the European Commission, Western Balkans governments, EU member states and the broader research community. Over that period, the platform has supported the full association of the six Western Balkans partners with successive EU research programs, a process that allows non-member countries to participate in EU-funded research on comparable terms to member states.
According to the Commission, this cooperation has already produced measurable results: Western Balkans partners have secured approximately €237 million in funding under Horizon Europe, the EU's flagship research and innovation program, spread across more than 1,000 projects involving researchers and institutions from the region.
Why it matters for accession
Research cooperation is one of several technical tracks the EU uses to integrate candidate countries before full membership is granted, allowing institutions in aspiring states to align gradually with EU standards and funding systems. The declaration itself does not change the formal accession timeline or criteria for any of the six partners, which remains governed by separate political and legal negotiations. Its practical effect is to deepen scientific and institutional ties that officials describe as building mutual trust ahead of eventual membership, while the promised Action Plan will determine what concrete funding or mobility measures follow.