26 April 2022, online: UNODC joined consultations of the Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) on the 2022 Enlargement package, which sets out the way forward and takes stock of the situation in the candidate countries and potential candidates for entry into the European Union (EU).

The package is in line with the new EU methodology for enlargement released in 2020 which provides for more resources and more scrutiny of the EU accession processes in the Western Balkans.

UNODC, including its Regional Programme for South Eastern Europe, remains one of the active actors in the Western Balkans as it supports the Governments of the region in their efforts towards the fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria, particularly in the areas of Chapters 23, 24 and 28 of the EU acquis communautaire. Accordingly, UNODC contributed firstly through written observations within our mandates on Western Balkan countries, and secondly by consultation through oral discussions on topics such as rule of law, drugs, migration and trafficking in persons, money laundering, corruption, and firearms trafficking.