Publications
Western Balkans 2020: State-Capture Risks and Policy Reforms
SELDI’s Regional Anti-corruption Report presents the civil society’s assessment of the regulatory and institutional factors enabling corruption in the...
SELDI Policy Brief 12: Judiciary in the Western Balkans: Тhe long road from political dependence towards EU standards
Although judicial reforms have been ongoing for more than a decade in the countries of the Western Balkans, no...
SELDI Policy Brief 11: Hidden economy in the Western Balkans 2020: Trends and Policy Options
The negative effects of the hidden economy are numerous – low funding and quality of public services, no healthcare...
Public Procurement Barometer (X-index)
The Public Procurement Barometer (X-index), developed by SELDI's partner RIINVEST, measures and evaluates the performance of municipalities in public...
SELDI Policy Brief 10: State Capture Assessment Diagnostics in the Western Balkans 2020: Risks and Policy Options
The European Commission has repeatedly noted the existence of state capture risks in the Western Balkans, “including links with...
The New Approach on Enlargement: Good Ideas in Need of a Captain
The European Commission’s proposal for a revised approach to Enlargement takes on board key proposals for SELDI’s Regional Anticorruption...
SELDI Policy Brief 9: Corruption in the Western Balkans: Trends and Policy Options
The promise of enlargement to the Western Balkans has suffered another delay, as the start of accession negotiations with...
SELDI Policy Brief 8: Anti-Corruption Agencies in the Western Balkan Countries: Delivering on the Promise
The current policy brief assesses the work of the anti-corruption agencies across the Western Balkans. The authors conclude that...
News & Events
Anticorruption Reforms in the Western Balkans: Looking Back at the Next Decade
In the past two decades, the Western Balkan countries have undergone considerable political, social and economic transformations towards democracy...
Hidden Economy in the Western Balkans: Challenges and Lessons for Economic Recovery and Convergence
The hidden economy is a widespread phenomenon throughout the Western Balkans, which manifests itself in various sectors such as...
State Capture: Bridging the Gap between Diagnostics and Practical Solutions in the Western Balkans
The European Commission has repeatedly noted the existence of state capture risks in the Western Balkans, “including links with...
Open Call for Mid-term Evaluation of the SELDI Initiative
The SELDI initiative is looking for an expert in the area of good governance, anti-corruption and the rule of...
Policy Forum: Delivering on the Promise of EU Enlargement: 30 Years of Governance and Anticorruption Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe
Enlargement has arguably been the European Union’s most successful policy, delivering change and prosperity across Central and Eastern Europe...
Western Balkans Summit in Sofia
Ruslan Stefanov, Director of the Economic Program at the Center for Study of Democracy and SELDI Knowledge and Outreach...
SELDI CSO Training: Corruption and State Capture Monitoring, Advocacy and Impact in a World of Hybrid Threats
The 3-day training, organised by the SELDI anti-corruption initiative on 12-14 June 2019 in Sarajevo, had as key objectives...
Open call for participants: Leadership Academy for Development in Podgorica
SELDI’s member, the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) and the Faculty of Economics at the University of Montenegro, in...
Infographics: Hidden Economy levels in the Western Balkans
The hidden economy is a widespread phenomenon throughout the Western Balkans and manifests itself in various sectors, among which...
Infographic: State Capture levels in the Western Balkans
SELDI’s State Capture Assessment Diagnostics (SCAD) results reveal that multiple economic sectors in the region show symptoms which can...
Infographic: Power Outages: Energy Governance and State Capture in SEE
Energy has been identified as one of the critical sectors with high corruption and state-capture risks, which should be...
Infographic: Hidden Employment
The current infographic presents key messages from the SELDI Regional Anti-corruption Report 2016. It answers the questions: - Which are...
Infographic: Growing in the Shadows: the State of Hidden Economy in SEE in 2016
The current infographic presents key messages from the SELDI Regional Anti-corruption Report 2016. It answers the questions: Why and...
Infographic: Common Corruption Practices and Attitudes
The current infographic presents key messages from the SELDI Regional Anti-corruption Report 2016. It answers the questions: What is...
Infographic: Dynamics of Corruption
The current infographic presents key messages from the SELDI Regional Anti-corruption Report 2016. It answers the questions: What is...
Key messages from the SELDI Second Regional Anti-Corruption Policy Forum
The current posters present the key messages from the SELDI Second Regional Anti-Corruption Policy Forum: Countering Corruption and State...
Quotable
The European project is not finished until the Western Balkans are inside. … The Economic and Investment Plan will speed up the economic development of the Western Balkans and boost the region’s convergence with the European Union. However, the implementation of this plan goes hand-in-hand with the continued need for reforms in the areas of so-called “fundamentals”.
Nicola BertoliniHead of Operation, EU Delegation to the Republic of North Macedonia , 08 April 2021
The informal economy is a multi-faceted problem and as a result, it needs to be tackled in a comprehensive way, with a full government approach. What we have been seeing in some countries is that this is not the case – there are partial ways of trying to address informality (even though the problem is acknowledged). This calls for a comprehensive look, not only from the angle of a particular ministry or institution.
“If we look at the European integration process as a box-ticking exercise, it would be easy…but we know that this is not the case – rules are only useful when they are enforced.”
Ms. Viola von Cramon-TaubadelMEP, Greens/EFA Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Parliament's rapporteur for Kosovo, 30 October 2020
“In every country, leaders seem to regard political office as a source of patronage to stay in power. Addressing the so-called state capture and rooting out these influences must be a top priority”
Corruption remains a major impediment to progress in this region. It is the cancer that saps strength from our democracies and drives up unemployment and civil unrest. More than that, it opens vulnerabilities that autocrats, petro states, and violent extremists exploit. All those who seek to stir up trouble here find an easy gateway when dirty money can buy corrupt politicians and undercut democratic governance and the rule of law.
Ms. Victoria NulandAssistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, US Department of State, 10 July 2015
The new approach of opening chapters 23 and 24 earlier in accession negotiations can push the implementation of necessary long-term reforms beyond the term of a single government. The countries need to have real anti-corruption mechanisms that stand the test and are systematically used to expose illegal wealth. Lately however the countries embrace the soft preventive tools, and effective enforcement is missing.
Ms Sabine ZwaenepoelChapter Coordinator, Accession Negotiations to the EU, DG NEAR, 14 June 2016
Rooting out corruption, increased transparency and how government operates, making sure that regulations are not designed just to advantage elites, but are allowing people who have a good idea to get out there and get things done.
Mr. Barack ObamaPresident of the United States, 24 July 2015
World opinion makers say corruption has increased; and that power and technology generate grand corruption. We face new challenges. The time is ripe for a new rule book to fight corruption. Most of us prioritize the bribe giver, and the bribe taker. This morning, I suggest we sharpen our focus on the middlemen. The enablers of corruption; those who profit off its proceeds.
Mr. Leonard McCarthyWorld Bank Group Vice President for Integrity, 11 May 2015
Corruption drains your economy, it eats into progress, it is an everyday tiresome blight on people’s lives. It’s time to end it – by prosecuting and punishing it, but also preventing it, through a new culture.
Mr. Jean Claude JunckerPresident of the European Commission, 28 April 2015