Fact-sheet 29 - Regional - 8284-00/2011 8284-01/2014
1.4
Status and trends in the standard of living
See list of
documents
1.5
Access to energy and resources
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documents
During the nineties, much of the region experienced wars and destruction, waves of refugees, internal displacement of
population, devastation of the economy, demolition of institutions and impoverishment of citizens. Absolute poverty, in
almost all of the Western Balkans is still relatively high. In some countries extreme poverty, meaning that not even basic
food needs can be met, has been registered. Groups that stand out as especially vulnerable and excluded are the
unemployed, dependents and the less educated. The poorest often live in the rural areas and in the underdeveloped regions.
Socially excluded groups include also the Roma, refugees and IDPs and persons with disabilities.
Concurrently undergoing transition, post conflict reconciliation and reconstruction and striving to pursue their European
Union future, the Western Balkan countries face the challenge of ensuring equitable and sustained economic growth that
will also benefit the vulnerable groups. Almost all Western Balkan countries, through their national plans and programs,
have marked employment growth and job creation as the most important single mechanism for exiting poverty. The second
priority may be an increase of education coverage and improving the quality of education, although reduction of poverty
and social exclusion presupposes improvement in the areas of developing appropriate social safety nets, health care
systems, securing adequate housing, participation in decision making and protection of human rights.
Energy and poverty in the Western Balkans constitute an interesting nexus. More than 16% of people in the Western Balkans
region are exposed to energy poverty, meaning they do not have access to sufficient energy services to ensure a healthy
lifestyle for themselves and their families. High‐energy prices and high‐energy consumption accompanied by inadequate
building insulation and low‐efficiency appliances, particularly stoves and boilers, puts heavy pressure on the household
budget of poorer segments of the population, often leaving insufficient funds for adequate food, clothing and education.
Governments in the region have used various tools to address the issue of energy poverty. Electricity prices in Bosnia and
Herzegovina are uniformly low, facilitating access to energy services but distorting the operation of the energy market.
Albania (until recently), Serbia and Kosovo have applied block electricity tariffs with a lower first‐tier level of pricing. These
are designed to provide households with a minimum of electricity supply at affordable prices while avoiding a subsidy on
all consumption. In Macedonia, the government intends to replace general energy subsidies (which result from relatively
low electricity prices for all consumers) with a more targeted social assistance scheme. In Montenegro, electricity tariffs
reflect a cross‐subsidy between industry and households; the government plans to eliminate the cross‐subsidies over the
next five years and replace them with targeted subsidies for the poor. Household surveys indicate that electricity prices do
not have a significant impact on household budgets, reflecting the relatively low use of electricity for space and water
heating.
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia are parties to the Energy Charter Treaty and in October 2007, Southeast
European (SEE) countries, including the Western Balkans, signed a Memorandum of Understanding that recognizes the
social effects associated with energy market reforms. These include: the impact of increasing energy prices on vulnerable
groups; the impact of mine closures and of the re‐structuring/privatisation of energy companies, including overall reduction
of employment; the related impact on cities and municipalities that depend on local energy supply companies.
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Fact-sheet 29 - Regional - 8284-00/2011 8284-01/2014
1.6
Awareness and action (political and civil society) to
mitigate climate change and to adapt to it
See list of
documents
1.7
Functionality and strength of governmental
organisation and NGOs
See list of
documents
The energy sector in the region is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. It is also a source of air pollutants, oil spills,
and nuclear waste. The energy sector is one of the most polluting sectors of the regional economy.
Most of the countries in the region are net importers of energy. The main domestic sources of electricity generation in the
region are lignite and hydropower. Fuel wood still remain an important heat source, and wood is used extensively as a
furnace fuel, often in low efficiency stoves that release greenhouse gases and poly‐aromatic hydrocarbons that create cancer
risks.
There are emerging policies and actions to increase the efficiency of energy production and consumption and switch to low
or zero‐carbon energy sources. They are however being overwhelmed by the fast growth in energy use. Obstacles to
improvement include lack of investment in efficiency measures for power generation, transport, buildings, and industry,
relatively low levels of awareness among consumers, vendors, and policy makers, and a lack of up‐front capital for new
energy efficient equipment.
However, renewable electricity generation provides a significant share of the consumption of electricity in the Western
Balkan countries. Almost all the renewable electricity in the region comes from large hydropower plants. Hydropower
production is strongly affected by climate factors such as low rainfall — which occurred in 2002, 2003 and 2006.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia there has been little progress in the area of environment, while Albania,
Montenegro and Serbia have achieved some progress and continue the alignment with the environmental acquis. In general,
however, implementation and enforcement of the national legislation remains a concern and need significant strengthening
(particularly related to water management, industrial pollution control and risk management, nature protection and air
quality). The strengthening of the administrative capacity and inter‐institutional cooperation is reported to be a priority.
While there has been some progress in alignment with the acquis in the field of environment, there was overall very little
progress in the field of climate change. While legal alignment driven by EU accession agenda is reportedly progressing well,
implementation and enforcement is an issue across the region. Other governance aspects that are prioritised in the
approximation process – such as regulatory quality, government effectiveness, rule of law and control of corruption, have an
impact on the ability of the governments to perform the necessary legal changes and the institutional capacity needs
associated with implementation and enforcement.
Certain vested interests work against reforms for controlling industrial pollution or deforestation and at the same time
accountability mechanisms are rather weak. Constituencies, such as affected communities, unions and environmental
organisations are considered to be not very vocal.
There has been little progress on energy (security, efficiency and renewable energy) in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
and Serbia. Although some legislation remains to be adopted, the most substantial efforts that remains relate to
implementation, for instance of energy efficiency and renewable energy plans. Progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina is
hampered by a lack of State‐level strategic planning and roadmap for transposition of relevant EU legislation. In Kosovo,
challenges remain in the formulation and implementation of energy policies, strengthening the role of the regulator,
improving resource efficiency, improving and diversifying supply including renewable resources, and modernising
infrastructure.
In terms of protected areas, it is clear that the region’s functional systems for efficient management of protected areas are
still developing. Inadequate local participation in establishing protected areas, and insufficient or non‐existing dialogue and
lack of transparency in management are obstacles to coming to satisfactory management solutions and achieving successful
trans‐boundary cooperation.
Taken together and compared with one another, the individual CSO framework laws bear considerable similarities in their
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