EU auditors: Rule of law aid for W Balkans doesn’t pay off

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union auditors say that the hundreds of millions of euros that the bloc has poured into six Western Balkan nations to improve the rule of law there just doesn’t pay off. The study of the European Court of Auditors was published Monday and it shows that the countries often continue to show a lack of political will to tackle anything from corruption to state interference that would help them on the way to membership. The EU’s 27 nations have been dragging their feet to bring membership closer for Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. At the same time the influence China and Russia has increased in the volatile region.