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Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia have proposed a gradual model for integrating Western Balkan countries into the European Union’s single market, according to a report by Euractiv published Wednesday.
The proposal, contained in a confidential document circulated among EU member states, calls for a “step-by-step” approach to deepen integration with candidate countries before full membership.
“To sustain the momentum of enlargement and advance European integration, strong and attractive incentives are needed,” the document said.
The paper proposes what it describes as “systematic sectoral integration,” under which Western Balkan countries would gradually gain access to selected EU programs and sectors as they align with EU legislation and standards.
It suggests expanding participation in areas including transport, energy, digital markets, competitiveness strategies and critical raw materials.
According to the report, the proposal supports “merit-based access” to parts of the EU single market, linking progress directly to reform implementation.
The document also reportedly includes safeguard mechanisms in case candidate countries reverse reforms after receiving access to parts of the single market.
The five countries further called on EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos to prepare new proposals based on the model.
The paper argues that deeper economic integration with the Western Balkans would strengthen the EU single market while helping reduce the influence of external actors, including Russia and China, in the region.
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