U.S. policy toward the Western Balkans should rest on three pillars: economic opportunities, stability and democratic institutions. U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen said this in Tirana on Friday.
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Shaheen is the senior-most minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She is leading a U.S. congressional delegation on a several-day visit to the Western Balkans. After Bosnia and Herzegovina, the senator is in Albania; on Monday, she will travel to Kosovo, while Montenegro and Croatia are also on the itinerary.
In Tirana, she met with young leaders to discuss the role of the next generation in shaping Albania’s future. Shaheen emphasized U.S. economic engagement: reducing trade barriers, expanding access to markets, and supporting American businesses and Albanian entrepreneurs.
Speaking about the Trump administration, the senator said it deserved credit for paying greater attention to U.S. economic engagement, which she described as beneficial to the region. However, she said, U.S. diplomacy should create opportunities for American businesses without selecting which ones will take advantage of them.
Last month, Argent LNG, a U.S. developer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Albania. The document provides for an assessment of the construction of an onshore terminal for the storage and regasification of LNG, with a capacity of up to 5 million tons per year.
Albania, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are among the Western Balkan countries that have reached agreements with American companies and the United States to expand the gas network. In Kosovo, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in July that the country was considering using American gas in the future, while calls continue for it to join the project of its largest ally to supply LNG.
When addressing the issue of stability, Shaheen referred to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she stayed before arriving in Albania and where she was named an “Honorary Citizen of Sarajevo.” She said that, more than 30 years after the war, political leaders continue to exploit ethnic divisions and call into question the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
According to the senator, Albania knows that the consequences of instability cross borders: developments in Bosnia and Kosovo also matter to it. For this reason, she called for U.S. policy to strengthen the institutions and agreements that have helped preserve regional stability. During her visit to Sarajevo, Shaheen called on Bosnia to continue its orientation toward the European Union and NATO, moving away from Russia.
Democracy and the rule of law make up the third area she mentioned. Shaheen argued that these are inseparable from security and economic development: businesses invest when contracts are honored and courts operate independently, while entrepreneurs need a level playing field.
The senator reiterated her support for a credible path toward membership in the European Union for the countries of the Western Balkans. In her view, European integration strengthens the rule of law, democratic institutions and economic governance; such reforms matter both to the region and to the United States.
She warned, however, that the prospect of membership should not remain an endless promise. Countries that meet their obligations, Shaheen said, should have a clear path forward.
Albania and Montenegro are considered the most advanced Western Balkan countries in the EU accession process. Both aim to join the bloc by 2030. Kosovo, unlike the other countries in the region, still does not have candidate-country status: it applied at the end of 2022, but its request has not yet been reviewed.
Serbia has opened 22 of the 35 negotiation chapters with the EU, but its process has remained blocked since 2021. Bosnia and Herzegovina received approval to open negotiations in March 2024, while it is still awaiting approval of the negotiating framework and the official start of negotiations.
This is Shaheen’s latest visit to the Western Balkans with a congressional delegation, in her capacity as the senior-most minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
