Based on the encouraging results of the pilot project presented in the context of the Trieste Summit held in July 2017, the European Commission, following a positive opinion of the IPA Committee (Member States), decided to continue the EUSYP for further two rounds of selection (namely Round II and Round III). This pilot action has had a positive impact on facilitating and improving two cornerstones of the EU accession process in the Western Balkans: PAR and regional cooperation. According to the strategy agreed during the Berlin process in the framework of the EU’s Connectivity Agenda for the Western Balkans, in 2016 the European Commission launched a pilot action for a regional executive programme and exchange component for young civil servants from the Western Balkans, namely the EU Scheme for Young Professionals in the Western Balkans (EUSYP). Public administration reform (PAR) remains among the focal areas of EU’s assistance for the Western Balkans countries, namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia (hereafter WB6).

Eu4 number of states