Green, Greener, the Greenest: The Western Balkan Countries on Test – Lessons for Macedonia

The economic crises may have challenged the EU in many ways, forcing it to rethink its policies; however one thing the Union remained true to is the idea of promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency as a means for achieving sustainable growth and a low-carbon society. In fact, by setting its 2020 and 2050 policies, the EU sees the crisis as an opportunity for investment in its own competitiveness and growth, and therefore continues to present a “green” role model. In this line, being an essential part of the EU enlargement policy - the Western Balkan countries – play an important role in contributing to a greener Europe since they are to implement these EU energy and climate change policies. This paper will assess the level of adoption and implementation of EU energy efficiency and renewable energy policies in the region by comparing the case studies of Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania for the purpose of stating whether Macedonia as the country with longest experience of candidate status is the most advanced; and this paper will also draft recommendations for Macedonia. From the analysis that has been conducted it is clear that the least successful state is Albania, which is still a potential candidate for EU membership, while the level of successfulness in the area is almost tied between Macedonia and Montenegro, however Montenegro proved to be the greenest country. Concrete recommendations for Macedonia are that Macedonia should follow Montenegro’s example for having a green leader as a Deputy Minister; and should establish an Energy Efficiency Fund. Further recommendations which Macedonia should undertake are having a separate Energy Efficiency and a separate Renewable Energy Law; strengthening the capacities of its implementing institutions; introducing energy awareness raising campaigns which include wide intersector cooperation; as well as introducing many incentives and implementation tools leading towards reaching the EU goals for 2020 and 2050. Methodologically, the paper considered relevant regional studies on the topic, EU documents, the EU progress reports and similar.