Countries

Albania

Albania has implemented several important reforms in many areas of the public administration in recent years, most notably in the area of digitalisation. The legal framework and institutional set-up for a well-functioning public administration is mostly in place. Nevertheless, shortcomings appear in practice, regarding the implementation of the legal framework and achievement of results.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina has made progress in public administration reform (PAR) since gaining EU candidate status in 2022, with new strategies for financial management, human resources, and digital services. However, implementation is slow, co-ordination weak, and political will limited. Citizen trust in government and civil servants remains low. Major challenges include poor accountability, fragmented governance, and insufficient funding of PAR.

Kosovo*

Kosovo* has made significant progress in establishing modern state institutions over the past decade. Substantial reforms have been initiated since the last SIGMA assessment, especially in the areas of public service and HRM, administrative simplification, and organisation of central government structures. With mixed progress in the functioning of its public administration, however, some challenges persist in all areas of public administration reform (PAR).

Montenegro

Montenegro is at an active stage of the EU accession process, having opened negotiations on all chapters of the EU acquis. Since the last SIGMA assessment, Montenegro has made progress on reforms mainly in the areas of strategy for continuous improvement of public administration, policy development and co-ordination, and public finance management. In other areas, reforms have advanced less, especially for public service and human resource management, as well as service delivery and digitalisation.

Republic of North Macedonia

Implementation of public administration reforms in the Republic of North Macedonia has been limited since 2021. Major challenges persist across most areas covered by the Principles of Public Administration. As a result, the values of most of the indicators assessed in 2024 are below the regional averages of the Western Balkans. However, the country has performed positively in the areas of administrative procedure and multilevel governance, with the average value of indicators of the relevant Principles exceeding regional averages.

Serbia

Serbia established a comprehensive PAR framework and enhanced its transparency by launching an online monitoring portal. Service delivery and digitalisation have improved across all indicators, particularly in digitising services, offering user-friendly solutions to citizens and business, and simplifying administrative services. At the same time, Serbia’s progress in policy development and co-ordination and public financial management has slowed and declined compared to its regional peers.