This report provides a regional perspective on the state of play of digital public services across public administrations in the Western Balkans. It offers an in‑depth analysis of the availability and quality of digital public services, benchmarked against relevant EU policy objectives and requirements. The report also examines the maturity of key enablers underpinning service digitalisation, including governance arrangements, interoperability and electronic identification. It is conceived as a comparative analytical reference paper to inform EU accession dialogue and reform design on the digitalisation of public administrative services in the Western Balkans.
Digital public services in the Western Balkans
Comparative insights in the context of EU accession
Abstract
Contents
Digitalisation of public services in the EU acquis and accession process
EU policy and legal framework for digital public services in the context of EU accession, including the Digital Decade 2030 targets, key EU rules on areas such as interoperability, electronic identification and cross-border services, and OECD and SIGMA standards for human-centred service delivery.
State of play of digitalisation of public services in the Western Balkans
- Benchmarking Western Balkan administrations against the EU Digital Decade 2030 targets
- Online availability, usability and transparency features of digital public services in the Western Balkans and the EU
- Digital public service delivery in each Western Balkan administration: strengths and gaps
Key enablers of digitalisation of public services
- What are the key enablers for successful digitalisation of public services?
- Governance arrangements for digitalisation of public services
- Service digitalisation building blocks: digital registries, interoperability and electronic identification
Digital public services in the Western Balkans remain below EU levels
All Western Balkan administrations score below the EU average for digital public services. Serbia and Albania are leading the region, while Bosnia and Herzegovina faces the largest gap. Overall, progress has been made, but no administration has yet achieved sustained alignment with the EU Digital Decade 2030 objectives across all key dimensions of service delivery.
Strong digital foundations support future progress
Key digital enablers are formally established across most Western Balkan administrations. However, their impact depends on how effectively they are used. Higher-performing administrations stand out not because they have more enablers, but because they integrate them systematically into service design, simplifying procedures and making full use of data sharing, electronic authentication and common user interfaces.
Key policy considerations
Based on the analysis, the paper highlights the following key policy considerations for Western Balkan administrations
Carry out continual monitoring of EU policy targets and legal requirements for digital public services and systematically use comparative EU analysis to prioritise reforms and guide the design of national digitalisation efforts.
Prioritise the maturity, transparency and quality of digital public services rather than formal online availability, by ensuring that services are digital end‑to‑end and comply with EU standards on accessibility, usability and transparency, including clear information on procedures and personal data use.
Ensure that digital public services are designed or redesigned for both national and cross‑border users, including linguistic availability, eligibility clarity and user support features, in line with EU legal requirements and single market objectives.
Strengthen central support for service digitalisation, so that institutions leading digitalisation go beyond policy setting and regulation and provide practical implementation assistance through shared solutions and reusable components to service‑providing bodies across the public sector, including municipalities and independent institutions.
Embed interoperability and electronic identification by default in service design, ensuring that digital services systematically reuse existing data, apply the once‑only principle and allow secure single sign‑on for fully digital transactions.
