Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act
The Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act is a comprehensive U.S. policy proposal to deepen trade and investment ties with the seven Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) while promoting democratic governance, anti-corruption reforms, economic development, and regional security. It integrates a broad set of initiatives: codified sanctions authorities with sunset and humanitarian carve-outs, a multi-agency push to strengthen rule of law and anti-corruption efforts, a regional trade and development program, and robust people-to-people and educational exchanges (including university partnerships, a Young Balkan Leaders Initiative, and Peace Corps opportunities). The bill also elevates cybersecurity and information resilience, supports regional infrastructure and energy diversification, and seeks to advance progress in Kosovo-Serbia normalization. A key feature is a mandated 5-year regional strategy, interagency coordination, and regular reporting to Congress. Overall, the bill aims to align Western Balkan reform and integration with European Union and NATO aspirations, while countering malign influence (Russia, China, disinformation) and building trusted, diversified energy and ICT infrastructure. If enacted, it would authorize new programs, create regional collaboration mechanisms, and require periodic strategic planning and oversight from multiple federal agencies, with a sunset in eight years for the sanctions provisions.
Key Points
- 1Codification and management of sanctions related to the Western Balkans: preserves current designation authorities under specified executive orders, with a fixed 8-year sunset, plus provisions for termination or waivers, and humanitarian/compliance exceptions.
- 2Democratic and economic development and prosperity initiatives: Department of State-led anti-corruption program to expand technical assistance, strengthen judicial and public procurement integrity, increase transparency, and include Western Balkans in the European Democratic Resilience Initiative; promote independent media; and develop a 5-year regional strategy coordinating with USAID, DoD, and other agencies.
- 3Regional trade and development initiative: authorization for a coordinated regional program (with involvement from State, USAID, and other agencies) to boost private sector growth, SME capacity, intraregional and EU trade, support startups (with an emphasis on women- and youth-led enterprises), diaspora engagement, investment screening to deter malign investments, and regional infrastructure efforts (transportation, energy, telecommunications) aligned with EU accession requirements.
- 4Cross-cultural, educational, and people-to-people engagement: enhanced university partnerships between the United States and Western Balkan institutions, support for research on policy, cyber resilience, and disinformation; expanded BOLD/Young Balkan Leaders Initiative with fellowships and a public engagement/leadership center to counter disinformation, promote cross-cultural ties, and connect alumni networks.
- 5Cybersecurity and resilience emphasis: mandatory interagency assessment to strengthen cybersecurity and information environments in the Western Balkans; ongoing support to counter influence operations, safeguard elections, and improve ICT capacity; explicit attention to cyber capacity-building for NATO Allies in the region; and a framework for post and public-diplomacy-based cyber capacity support.
- 6Kosovo-Serbia relations: expresses a sense of Congress that the Path to Normalization Agreement is a positive step and encourages progress on the Implementation Annex, signaling congressional support for incremental normalization efforts.