{"id":513,"date":"2025-12-15T08:48:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/?p=513"},"modified":"2026-06-26T09:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T09:35:39","slug":"rules-or-deals-the-eus-challenge-in-regulating-corrosive-capital-in-the-western-balkans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/?p=513","title":{"rendered":"Rules or Deals? The EU\u2019s Challenge in Regulating Corrosive Capital in the Western Balkans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">December 8, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Published by Carnegie Europe in December 2025, this paper by Iliriana Gjoni, Iva \u010cuki\u0107, Alba \u00c7ela and Aleksand\u00ebr Traj\u00e7e analyzes the impact of foreign investment in the Western Balkans through the concept of \u201ccorrosive capital.\u201d It refers to the notion that some investments exploit governance weaknesses in countries with unstable or corrupt structures, while simultaneously reinforcing those very weaknesses. They involve local elites in mechanisms that prioritize short-term, visible results over institutional resilience and long-term reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"799\" height=\"318\" src=\"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rules-or-deals-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rules-or-deals-1.png 799w, https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rules-or-deals-1-300x119.png 300w, https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rules-or-deals-1-768x306.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 799px) 100vw, 799px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Based on several case studies in Serbia, Montenegro and Albania, the paper shows how several real estate, tourism and infrastructure projects have benefited from regulatory exemptions, unclear procedures and limited public oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The analysis highlights a growing gap between the formal adoption of European standards and their effective implementation. In several candidate countries, the need to boost economic attractiveness and partnerships with foreign investors tends to weaken mechanisms for transparency, competition and environmental protection, which are, after all, the core of the EU accession process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This publication aims to contribute to the debate on the European Union\u2019s role in regulating strategic investments in the Western Balkans. It calls for strengthening enlargement conditionality, increased support for local oversight mechanisms and more visible economic engagement by the EU to promote investments that are compatible with the principles of effective governance and the rule of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can find the report<em> Rules or Deals? The EU\u2019s Challenge in Regulating Corrosive Capital in the Western Balkans<\/em> by Iliriana Gjoni,\u00a0Iva \u010cuki\u0107,\u00a0Alba \u00c7ela and Aleksand\u00ebr Traj\u00e7e <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/research\/2025\/12\/rules-or-deals-the-eus-challenge-in-regulating-corrosive-capital-in-the-western-balkans?lang=en&amp;center=europe\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/research\/2025\/12\/rules-or-deals-the-eus-challenge-in-regulating-corrosive-capital-in-the-western-balkans?lang=en&amp;center=europe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 8, 2025. Published by Carnegie Europe in December 2025, this paper by Iliriana Gjoni, Iva \u010cuki\u0107, Alba \u00c7ela and Aleksand\u00ebr Traj\u00e7e analyzes the impact of foreign investment in the Western Balkans through the concept of \u201ccorrosive capital.\u201d It refers to the notion that some investments exploit governance weaknesses in countries with unstable or corrupt 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8, 2025. Published by Carnegie Europe in December 2025, this paper by Iliriana Gjoni, Iva \u010cuki\u0107, Alba \u00c7ela and Aleksand\u00ebr Traj\u00e7e analyzes the impact of foreign investment in the Western Balkans through the concept of \u201ccorrosive capital.\u201d It refers to the notion that some investments exploit governance weaknesses in countries with unstable or corrupt&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}