Deepening and Expanding the Scope of the Commission’s Reporting of Developments in the “Functioning of Democratic Institutions” in WB6

This paper is an integral component of a broader initiative aimed at enhancing the Commission’s assessments within the “Functioning of Democratic Institutions” (FoDI) subarea. It builds upon prior work identifying the inconsistencies present in the Commission’s reporting on the Western Balkans (WB6) while also proposing methods to quantify the findings by cross-analysing the most renowned international democracy indexes. This paper goes further, as its primary objective is to identify and advocate for the introduction and integration of additional essential policy elements into the Commission’s reporting within the FoDI domain. Doing so would result in the deepening and expansion of the Commission’s reporting and assessment scope, thus providing a platform for a more detailed, precise, and realistic evaluation of the state of affairs on the ground. Such a comprehensive and in-depth examination is essential for fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges, strengths, and dynamics of democratic institutions within the assessed region, but also as a contribution towards increasing the overall credibility of the Commission’s reports.