Rolling Back State Capture in Southeast Europe

Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine has intensified existing geopolitical tensions throughout 2022 and into 2023, exposing persistent rule of law deficiencies and other governance gaps in Southeast Europe (SEE-9). This in turn has spurred efforts to renew the stalled EU integration and consolidation process, which serves as the main driver of good governance reforms in the region.

The current report builds upon international and EU measures to strengthen the rule of law, and highlights the critical areas of impact that could be achieved through public-private partnerships. This second SEE Good Governance Report focuses on the big data tools necessary to identify the existence of ill-gained assets hidden by politically exposed persons (PEPs). These tools could help counter state and media capture practices in the region, preventing authoritarian tendencies, including foreign malign influence, from threatening the Euro-Atlantic democratization of Southeast Europe.