Regional Action Lab - Re-ACT Lab

29/09/2026

🔐 When did connectivity become security? And energy policy, economic policy—or even the green transition?

Over its first decade, the Berlin Process has adapted to a rapidly changing geopolitical environment. Security, once largely associated with rule of law, border management and reconciliation, now stretches across energy, cyber resilience, migration, critical infrastructure and economic policy.

In cooperation with the Regional Action Lab - Re-ACT Lab , “A Decade of Adaptation: Mapping the Security Agenda in the Berlin Process,” by Sokol Zeneli, Gresa Smolica and Olsë Kajtazi, traces this evolution from 2014 to 2025.

The authors find not a single, centrally engineered security pivot, but a flexible and chair-driven process responding to successive crises and geopolitical shocks. The challenge now? Ensuring that greater attention to security does not crowd out the Berlin Process’s foundational work on economic convergence, connectivity and the green transition.

📖 Read the full analysis: https://collections.fes.de/publikationen/content/titleinfo/2182005

05/08/2026

Hydropower expansion in Kosovo is often framed as a renewable energy success story. Our latest policy brief challenges that assumption by shifting the focus from energy production to governance capacity.

In partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Prishtina Office, the policy brief “The Story of the Rivers: Hydropower Expansions in Kosovo", authored by Egzona Shala-Kadiu, examines hydropower expansion in Kosovo through a resilience lens. The findings point to a deeper structural issue: governance frameworks are designed to enable development, but not to correct it.

With an overall resilience score of 52%, Kosovo’s regulatory system performs relatively well in permitting and oversight, yet remains weak in three critical dimensions:
– Redundancy: no fallback mechanisms when projects become harmful
– Resourcefulness: fragmented institutional mandates
– Rapidity: slow, reactive enforcement

Most critically, policies assume the permanence of infrastructure, even when it undermines ecological resilience and community interests. As a result, environmental harm can persist despite formal non-compliance.

📖 Consider this your 'end of summer' policy read - and dive into the full analysis (in the comment below).

17/06/2026

🚨 New Policy Brief
Are regional frameworks successfully shifting public procurement from a basic administrative task to a strategic policy tool?

Our latest policy brief, “The Integration of Strategic Public Procurement: A Policy Analysis of Regional Agendas in the Western Balkans,” analyses whether and how Strategic Public Procurement (SPP) is being embedded into the main regional initiatives.

🔍 Key insights:
🔸 CEFTA: SPP integration remains weak and conditional, as the traditional free trade agreement lacks modern Trade and Sustainable Development chapters needed to actively enforce strategic purchasing.
🔸 Voluntary steps forward: The Common Regional Market (CRM) and Green Agenda (GAWB) are laying the groundwork by adopting regional voluntary green procurement criteria, though practical application by national authorities remains low.
🔸 Hard financial conditionality: The EU Growth Plan is acting as a strong catalyst, transforming SPP from a voluntary aspiration into a strict requirement by linking specific procurement milestones directly to the disbursement of reform funds.

📄 You can read the full policy brief at this link: https://www.re-actlab.org/our-work/publications/pb_the-integration-of-strategic-public-procurement-in-wb6

This policy brief is published as part of the ProcuRe-ACT Competence Centre, an initiative supported by the “Support to EU-Integration Reform Processes in Kosovo” Project, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Government.

11/06/2026

🚀 Same ambition, different rules. The gradual integration approach is reshaping the EU enlargement process and Western Balkans, and Eastern Trio countries are navigating very different legal frameworks operationalising this approach.

Join us and our partners for a live webinar to find out what gradual integration looks like in practice ⬇️

📆 Tuesday, 23 June | 12:00 CEST
🖋️ Register now: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/YVFZn_ugTDCACfoQ1gZ-Uw #/registration

You can read more about the webinar in this link: https://www.re-actlab.org/community/webinar-gradual-integration

10/06/2026

We recently joined Instagram! Follow us 🎉 wb6 | https://www.instagram.com/reactlab.wb6/

08/06/2026

Our Director of Research and Programmes attended the 9th Friends of the Western Balkans Network Meeting and W***y Brandt Programme Seminar in Podgorica, Montenegro.

Convened alongside the summit in Tivat, this high-level forum brought together members of the European Parliament, national parliamentarians, and policy experts to analyse current trajectories in regional cooperation and EU enlargement policy.

A primary outcome of the meeting was the endorsement of the network's official joint statement, "Call for a progressive EU enlargement," which strongly affirms Montenegro's target of achieving EU membership by 2028.

We extend our sincere thanks to FEPS and its co-organisers for facilitating this dialogue. The insights gained will continue to inform our upcoming research and policy analysis.

Red more by clicking the link the comment below 👇

03/06/2026

ANNOUNCEMENT - Re-ACT Lab is officially on Instagram! 🎉

We are taking our research visual. If you want to keep up with our latest publications, project updates, and get a behind-the-scenes look at our team's work across the Western Balkans, come join us over there.

👉 You can find and follow us by our handle .wb6, scanning the QR code below or clicking the link in the comments.

19/05/2026

How is 🇭🇺 reshaping Western Balkans politics after Péter Magyar's election victory?

In the latest explainer, Ferenc Németh explores how is moving away from the ideological alliances of the Orbán era toward a more pragmatic approach, stricter accountability, and a merit-based regional role.

From ending financial support for illiberal leaders to closing its doors as a safe haven for foreign politicians, he examines how this new political reality is transforming geopolitics — and what this means for Prishtina, Sarajevo, and the wider region.

🔗 Read the full article (in English or Albanian) here: https://www.re-actlab.org/our-work/re-act-explains/re-act-explainsreturn-to-normalcy-hungarys-revised-foreign-policy-in-wb6

07/05/2026

🚨 Publikim i Ri | Siguria Energjetike dhe Rëndësia e Mjaftueshmërisë Energjetike

Sa është i përgatitur sektori i energjisë i Kosovës për dështimet e papritura të termocentraleve dhe mungesat në gjenerim?

Publikimi jonë i fundit, "Siguria Energjetike dhe Rëndësia e Mjaftueshmërisë Energjetike", me autorë Arven Syla dhe Olsë Kajtazi, shqyrton cenueshmërinë e gjenerimit si një kërcënim kritik dhe vlerëson nëse korniza rregullatore e Kosovës është e gatshme për t'iu përgjigjur kësaj sfide.

🔍 Gjetjet kryesore:
🔸 Sistemi elektroenergjetik i Kosovës është shumë i varur nga infrastruktura e vjetruar e qymyrit, duke e bërë atë thellësisht të cenueshëm ndaj ndërprerjeve të papritura dhe të varur nga importet gjatë periudhave me kërkesë maksimale.
🔸 Korniza rregullatore e Kosovës tregon një qëndrueshmëri (reziliencë) të moderuar (74%), e karakterizuar nga një planifikim i fortë strukturor, por që zbulon mangësi kritike në përgatitjen praktike.
🔸 Mungesa e rezervave vendase mbështetëse (redundanca) dhe kapacitetet e kufizuara të reagimit të shpejtë (shpejtësia) rrisin rreziqet gjatë ndërprerjeve të papritura të furnizimit.

📌 Publikimi bën thirrje për veprim, duke theksuar nevojën për zhvillimin urgjent të kapaciteteve të reja gjeneruese vendase, koordinim më të fortë institucional dhe kalimin drejt planeve proaktive të veprimit për gatishmërinë ndaj rrezikut.

📄 Mund ta lexoni të plotë përmbledhjen e politikave në këtë link: https://www.re-actlab.org/our-work/publications/pb-energy-security-and-adequacy

Kjo përmbledhje e politikave u zhvillua në partneritet me zyrën e Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Prishtina Office, si pjesë e projektit "Vlerësimi i Reziliencës së Shoqërisë Kosovare ndaj Goditjeve Ekologjike dhe Institucionale".

06/05/2026