Directorate-General for Trade

Western Balkans

The Western Balkans are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

All the Western Balkan countries have been offered Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAAs) and have a clear EU perspective. The EU's strategy includes massive financial assistance, making it by far the largest donor to the region.

In 2000, the EU granted autonomous trade preferences to all the Western Balkans allowing nearly all exports to enter the EU without customs duties or limits on quantities. Only wine, sugar, baby beef and certain fisheries products enter the EU under preferential tariff quotas.

These preferences, which were renewed in 2005 until 2010, have contributed to an increase in the Western Balkans' exports to the EU by approximately 8% per year. In 2007, the EU was the region's largest trading partner for both imports (61,3%) and exports (63,2%).

The EU strongly supports the Western Balkan countries' membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Albania, Croatia (2000) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2003) are already members. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and the Serbia have started the WTO accession process.

Stabilisation and association

The EU's relations with the Balkans are governed by the Stabilisation and Association process. There are two Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAA) in force: with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2004) and Croatia (2005). The trade part of the SAA came into force through an Interim Agreement with Albania (2006), Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007). The SAA with Serbia is signed. The agreements aim to progressively establish a free-trade area between the EU and the Western Balkan countries. Where trade is concerned, they focus on liberalising trade in goods, aligning rules on EU practice and protecting intellectual property.

For more information, see also: Commission Communication on "Western Balkans : Enhancing the European perspective", March 2008.

Central European Free Trade Agreement2

The regional dimension is very important in the Stabilisation and Association process.

The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is a single Free Trade Agreement (FTA) linking all the Western Balkans and Moldova. It replaces a previous network of more than 30 bilateral FTAs, thereby setting uniform trade rules across the whole South Eastern Europe. CEFTA entered into force for all Parties in November 2007. Although not a party to CEFTA, the EU supports the process, which it sees as complementing the Stabilisation and Association process.

1. At the exclusion of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo. ¶
2. Parties of CEFTA: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. ¶

Supporting information

For more information, try a Document search on the Balkans region