By Genc Pollo
Tirana, 02 January 2026 – Today’s decision by the European Union to grant “roaming like at home” to Ukraine and Moldova deserves praise. It is a practical citizen-centered step that immediately lowers costs improves connectivity and makes Europe tangible in everyday life.
Yet the non inclusion of the Western Balkans in his roaming scheme is striking and increasingly indefensible. The region has a population of less than half of Ukraine’s and lies geographically closer to Europe’s core. Still a promise repeatedly made to Western Balkan citizens remains unfulfilled. Why
One might expect an explanation from PM Edi Rama perhaps after the press finishes asking about recent government scandals. Or from an Enlargement Commissioner once foul statements about “free and fair elections in Albania” have run their course. But these evasions miss the point. Measures like normal roaming are not mere symbolic gestures. They are realistic concrete steps toward integration that matter to every citizen.
By contrast grand timelines such as closing negotiation chapters and cluster by 2027 and EU membership by 2030 sound impressive but ring hollow. For many reasons they are unrealistic. Chief among them is the persistence of what can only be described as an authoritarian kleptocratic governance model visible not only in Albania but also under leaders such as Aleksandar Vučić. Against this backdrop lofty promises risk becoming just another form of political noise.
What the Western Balkans need instead are achievable steps with immediate positive consequences. Alongside Single Europe Payment Area which finally brought minimal banking fees for eurozone payments “roaming like at home” would be a clear beneficial signal. It would reduce daily costs for students businesses families and travelers. It would knit the region more tightly into Europe’s digital space. And it would demonstrate that integration is not merely a distant horizon but a lived reality.
If European integration is to retain credibility in the Western Balkans it must be measured not only by chapters opened or communiqués issued but by policies citizens can feel in their pockets and in their daily routines. Normal roaming would be a modest step but simbolically a powerful one.
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