Summary
EU accession Candidate Countries of the Western Balkans and Eastern Neighbourhood face, to varying degrees, hybrid threats in the form of political interference and cultural diplomacy from external actors like Russia and China. These threats include disinformation campaigns, interference in elections and support for political or separatist movements. Against these threats, Candidate Countries demonstrate varying and uneven resilience capacities.
Domestic resilience hinges crucially on the EU’s contribution and conditionality. While the EU has a traditional set of tools and instruments to foster democratisation and Europeanisation, it has also developed a range of innovative tools in response to growing hybrid political threats. Nonetheless, the EU often struggles to navigate the increasingly uncertain and volatile regional environments of the Candidate Countries and to adapt to distinct local needs and conditions.
The EU needs to further tailor its approach to enhance Candidate Country resilience against political threats. To do so, it must:
- adjust its support to local needs;
- strengthen its presence and communication across diverse population groups and place greater
emphasis on grassroots resilience; - adopt a firmer stance on the adoption and respect of European norms and reforms to ensure
sustainable democratisation.
