Western Balkans

The Western Balkans region is a foreign policy focus of the Austrian Parliament's activities.

Western Balkans as a foreign policy priority

Austria actively supports bringing the Western Balkan countries closer to the European Union. As such, the region is also a foreign policy focus of the Austrian Parliament's activities. The six states are at different stages of the accession process.

The Austrian Parliament's engagement in the region focuses on capacity building and strengthening democratic processes in the countries as well as on democracy education. The Austrian Parliament also participates in the EU project Inter Pares and offers a Western Balkans Fellowship Programme in cooperation with the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB).

INTER PARES Montenegro

INTER PARES is a global EU interparliamentary project implemented by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). The project was launched in 2019 to strengthen the legislative, oversight, representational, budgetary and administrative functions of parliaments in partner countries. The activities take place both at the staffing level of parliamentary administrations and at the MP level.

The Austrian Parliament has been participating in the partnership with the Parliament of Montenegro since 2021, providing a wide range of expertise to strengthen the Parliament's oversight function. In particular, the Austrian Budget Office presented its numerous tasks and its specific role in the budget process. The Austrian Parliament also provided expertise and experience in the field of "orientation of new MPs" and on the topic of "improvement of the right to ask questions." As experts from other national parliaments of the EU (Danish Parliament, French National Assembly and French Senate, Greek Parliament, Italian Chamber of Deputies, Croatian Parliament, Czech Chamber of Deputies and Hungarian National Assembly) also participated, a comparative exchange was made possible.

EU Global Projekt to Strenghten the Capacity of Parliaments

Fellowship Programme

In order to strengthen democracy, parliamentarianism and the rule of law in the countries of the Western Balkans, a Fellowship programme for employees of the parliamentary administrations was established.

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Further Cooperation

HUGEN (Human Rights and Gender Equality Network of Committees in the Western Balkans)

For over 30 years, the British Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has been dedicated to promoting democratic values in numerous countries. This includes the Western Balkans region, where, among other things, it created HUGEN, a network that serves as a platform for informal exchange for the human rights and equality Committees of eight Parliaments in the six Western Balkan countries. In the framework of a cooperation initiated in 2021 between the Austrian Parliament and the WFD, two interparliamentary meetings took place - virtually, due to COVID - for the first time in 2022. At the first exchange, general human rights issues that are currently particularly relevant from the perspective of Austria or the Western Balkan countries were discussed. The second Committee meeting was dedicated to the topics of "human trafficking" and "violence against women." Further cooperation of the Austrian Parliament with the WFD is anticipated.
TAIEX North Macedonia

In cooperation with the French National Assembly, the Austrian Parliament completed a European Commission TAIEX project with the Parliament of North Macedonia in December 2021.

The two‑day seminar on "EU Accession, Revised Methodology and the Fundamentals: What Changes for the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia" was held with the participation of, among others, MP Lopatka in his capacity as Chair of the EU Subcommittee. Together with the Vice‑Chair of the EU Committee of the Assemblée Nationale, Liliane Tanguy, the tasks of the respective EU committees of both Parliaments as well as the experiences in the course of the EU accession process and the role of the Parliament were presented. The aim was to focus explicitly on the necessities of the Macedonian Parliament and its crucial role in the EU accession process, and to raise awareness both at the political and administrative levels.

More information about TAIEX (europa.eu)
Twinning Project Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Twinning project "Empowerment and further support to the Parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina in EU integration tasks" was implemented in 2019-2021. Tendered by the European Commission, this initiative was conducted by a consortium of the Hungarian Parliament as Project Leader and the Austrian and Croatian Parliaments each as Junior Member State Partner.

The participation of Austria underlined the commitment of the Austrian Parliament in the region of the Western Balkans. The Hungarian Parliament, which has been active in numerous Twinning projects for many years, aimed to have Austria on board because of its commitment to the Western Balkans, its long‑standing EU membership, and its good bilateral relations. In addition, Austria was invited due to its having a bicameral Parliament maintaining close coordination with the provincial parliaments in the EU area through the Federal Council. Three Provincial Parliaments (Vienna, Lower Austria, Styria) also participated in activities such as a study visit of a delegation to Austria. Croatia was selected as a Junior Member State by Hungary, because it can share very concrete experience and support in the pre‑accession process to the EU due to its accession just a few years ago.

The aim was to strengthen the parliamentary structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina by sending experts from various fields such as EU participation, ICT, electronic legislative process, budget, communications, and human‑resources development.

Project Content

Based on the Stabilization and Association Agreement (in force since 1.6.2015) and the European Commission Country Report 2018, the third project was aimed at strengthening the four parliamentary administrations (the 10 cantonal Parliaments of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina were also included in individual areas), especially in the field of EU integration. The following four topics were addressed:

expansion of the competencies of the EU organizational units in the parliaments

deepening the cooperation of parliaments in EU affairs

improvement of the competencies of the administrative structures in the legislative process related to the pre-accession to the EUdevelopment of competencies of cantonal assemblies

The Parliaments of the Czech Republic, Belgium (both Chambers and the Flemish Parliament), France (National Assembly), Portugal and Slovakia also participated in the project with experts.

In the course of the project, concrete implementation plans were developed at the administrative level; in addition, priorities were set at the political level and forums for regular exchange and cooperation were established. Furthermore, the project accompanied the ongoing work process (committee support, preparation of meetings, staff recruitment, conference preparations).

More information about Twinning:

Website of the European Commission and the BMEIA

Twinning Project - EU support to the Parliaments of BiH in EU integration tasks

Western Balkans

Western Balkans as a foreign policy priority

INTER PARES Montenegro

Fellowship Programme

Further Cooperation

HUGEN (Human Rights and Gender Equality Network of Committees in the Western Balkans)

TAIEX North Macedonia

Twinning Project Bosnia and Herzegovina