The missing element of enlargement: SMEs, competitiveness and convergence in the Western Balkans

This article argues that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the missing link between EU enlargement, economic convergence and Europe’s competitiveness agenda in the Western Balkans. While enlargement debates have focused mainly on geopolitics, rule of law and institutional preparedness, the capacity of firms to benefit from integration remains underexplored. SMEs dominate the region’s economies yet face cumulative constraints: limited access to finance, fragmented markets, regulatory burdens, skills shortages, weak digitalisation, insufficient representation and growing sustainability pressures. Existing EU support instruments, including the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance III, the Growth Plan, the Western Balkans Investment Framework and European Investment Bank–backed lending, have mobilised significant resources but remain insufficiently targeted to firm-level productivity and absorptive capacity. Europe needs a more strategic SME policy that links enlargement to single-market readiness, value-chain integration, brain-drain prevention and EU strategic autonomy. Strengthening Western Balkan SMEs is essential for making enlargement economically tangible, socially legitimate and geopolitically resilient in concrete practice.