Over the past decade, Western Balkan countries have adopted ambitious strategies aligned with the SDGs and the EU Green Agenda. Yet, persistent structural challenges remain: limited institutional capacity, governance gaps, high informality, and weak policy implementation.
This raises a critical question:
Are we witnessing a genuine economic transformation, or mainly a formal alignment driven by EU accession requirements and donor conditionality?
If sustainability is to move beyond strategies, reports, and pilot projects, what kind of deep, systemic reforms are actually needed in the Western Balkans context?
What would real sustainable development look like in practice for public institutions, businesses, and local communities?
I would be very interested to hear perspectives from academia, public policy, and the private sector.