ZMINA gathered experts to discuss the European integration experience of the Western Balkans and presented an analytical report

On 21 February 2025, the conference “European integration experience of the Western Balkans. Lessons for human rights defenders of Ukraine” was held in Kyiv, organised by the Human Rights Centre ZMINA with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative “European Renaissance of Ukraine”.

Dmytro Shulha, Director of the Europe and World Programme of the International Renaissance Foundation, and Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA

During the event, the analytical report “European integration experience of the Western Balkans. Lessons for human rights defenders” was presented. The participants of the conference discussed the key findings of the document and exchanged experience with colleagues from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro.

“This conference is not only about discussing the experience of our colleagues from the Western Balkans, but also about learning, adapting and growing together. We seek to identify specific lessons that will help us in protecting human rights, strengthening democracy and ensuring the rule of law in Ukraine. Civil society plays a key role in this process, and we are grateful to our partners from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro for their experience and expertise,” said Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, in her opening remarks at the conference.

Presenting the report, Diana Deputat, Analyst of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, spoke about the experience of the Western Balkan countries on their way to the EU, including their achievements, challenges and problems they faced along the way: “Our report analyses the difficulties faced by Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro in the process of European integration and what lessons from their experience can be useful for Ukraine. By studying this path, Ukrainian human rights defenders can develop effective strategies to protect human rights and adapt to European standards“.

Liubov Akulenko, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Centre for European Policy; Diana Deputat, Analyst of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA; Serhii Sydorenko, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the European Pravda

Ivan Novosel, Programme Director of the Human Rights House in Zagreb (Croatia), Sofija Todorović, Director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (Serbia), and Nevenka Vuksanović, Programme Manager of the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (Montenegro), spoke about how the experience of integration of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro can help Ukraine on the way to the EU.

Thus, Ivan Novosel drew attention to the fact that reforms related to the rule of law and human rights started too late in Croatia: “Chapter 23 (dealing with justice and fundamental rights) was opened almost at the end of the negotiation process, and this led to the fact that many reforms remained incomplete. Today, Croatia is facing problems related to the independence of institutions, the workload of the courts and other human rights challenges“.

Sofija Todorović noted that Serbia’s path to the EU was largely determined by the fulfilment of the requirements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: “Serbia was forced to comply with the war crimes tribunal’s requests, and this had an impact on its integration process. At the same time, good neighbourly relations remain a key challenge. For example, Romania blocked Serbia’s candidate status for some time due to the issue of the Romanian minority“. She also stressed the importance of the political aspect of European integration.

Speaking about Montenegro’s experience, Nevenka Vuksanović noted that despite the fact that the country was long considered a leader in the Western Balkans in the process of moving towards the EU, it experienced years of stagnation: “We have adopted many legislative reforms, but the political will remained low. For example, we have strengthened the independence of the judiciary, but the courts are still politicised. Media freedom has increased, but journalists still face threats“. She warned Ukraine against formally fulfilling EU requirements without real amendments.

Ivan Novosel, Sofija Todorović, Nevenka Vuksanović

The experience of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro shows that for successful integration into the EU, Ukraine needs to start critical reforms as early as possible, ensure their actual implementation, not just the adoption of legislative amendments, and build strong civil society coalitions to monitor the process.

Svitlana Matviienko, Executive Director of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Yevhen Krapyvin, Expert of the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform, and Iryna Fedorovych, Director of the Social Action Centre, discussed the role of civil society in the process of Ukraine’s European integration.

The participants discussed both the opportunities that Ukraine may have this year in the process of joining the EU and the challenges associated with the uncertainty of reforms and political changes. In particular, they discussed the “window of opportunity” for strengthening civil control and influence on decision-making, at the same time highlighting the risks of losing reform momentum in the event of instability.

Iryna Fedorovych, Svitlana Matviienko, Yevhen Krapyvin, Alena Lunova

In October 2024, a coalition of NGOs, including the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Transparency International Ukraine, ZMINA, Tomorrow’s Lawyer and the Ukrainian Bar Association, presented in Kyiv the Shadow Report to Chapter 23 “Justice and Fundamental Rights” of the European Commission’s Report on Ukraine in 2023. In this document, experts provided 350 recommendations for human rights reforms, some of which were prepared by ZMINA. This event was another important step in building a democratic society and the European future of Ukraine.

Photo: ZMINA