STATE AID TRENDS IN THE WESTERN BALKANS IN THE LIGHT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ACQUIS.

Granting state aid to market players while ensuring compliance with the internal market requirements, as derived from the European Union (EU) acquis, seems to be a challenging exercise for the Western Balkans. As an integral part of the competition rules (Cseres & Reyna, 2021) state aid requirements proved to be a challenge, especially at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the state efforts to keep alive certain key sectors of the economy (Bouchagiar, 2021). As an EU requirement and Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) legal obligation became even more important. Struggling between the need to save the market while respecting the state aid rules, Western Balkans seem to have to pay more and closer attention to this field. This is why this paper, through an analytical and descriptive approach, intends to address such shortcomings and challenges in light of the efforts to enhance the harmonization of the legislation while ensuring its due application. Enforcing state aid rules requires professional and independent capacities within the relevant state aid authorities an objective remaining far from reach in the Western Balkans. The paper provokes further debates and analysis in the scholarly efforts to shed light on this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]