Almost 20 years after the initial promise of EU membership for the Western Balkans, the region has been stuck in an accession tunnel with no light at the end. However, at the beginning of 2022, the horror of a new war in Europe has transformed the vision of EU enlargement from a forgotten, bureaucratic stabilizing tool into a geopolitical priority to stop further fragmentation of the Continent. The initial EU decisions following the start of the military escalations in Ukraine to upgrade the accession status of several applicants for membership and initiate strategies for accelerated integration, have raised the hopes among the political elites in the Western Balkans that the stagnating accession will finally start moving in the right direction. On the other hand, many voices in the expert community have warned that there is a high probability that this newly found enthusiasm is a temporary development and that the focus on immediate security concerns could detract from the importance of strategic, long-term reforms. These views reflect broader uncertainties about the EU’s commitment to enlargement and the future of EU Western Balkans relations, which, if not addressed, would further open the door for influence from external authoritarian actors and additionally fragment the region. EU’s enlargement policy seems to be at a critical juncture which should oblige all stakeholders to seize the moment and reinvigorate the accession process in several directions.
Read the policy paper here:
The New Reality: The Russian war on Ukraine and the Western Balkans EU Accession Process