Balkan Defence Monitor 2022

The first iteration of the Balkan Defence Monitor entails detailed information on defence expenditure in the region, military exercises with international partners, foreign donations, participation in multinational operations and women in defence systems. The report covers data for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

The idea behind the Balkan Defence Monitor is to launch an independent, comprehensive and credible source of information on defence sectors, policies and related issues in the Balkans. The main aim is to try to tackle the lack of information in this field and provide a fact-based alternative to current narratives in the Balkans region.

Defence topics are often politicised and misused, and frequently serve as a basis for toxic and belligerent rhetorics in the Balkans region. Fake news, misinterpreted or malevolent information about armament, military expenditure or international military cooperation often circulate in the media in the region. Irresponsible politicians and government officials frequently flex with statements about armament or point fingers to neighbours just to score easy political points. The arms race between Croatia and Serbia, Russia arming Serbia, the West using NATO members in the region and the destabilisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are regular topics among the unverified and out-of-context information in the field of defence that disturb the already fragile regional relations.

The baseline research process has demonstrated that level of transparency of defence sectors in the Balkans is very low, and that the Balkan Defence Monitor report is needed more than it was initially thought.

This publication is produced within the Transparent Defence Systems for Peaceful Western Balkans project with the support of the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).