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Western Balkans

The countries of the Western Balkans are geographically surrounded by EU member states, and the EU’s general approach towards the region is characterised by stabilisation through integration.

The conflicts which blighted the region in the 1990s posed an existential challenge to the Common Security and Foreign Policy (CFSP) and in 2003, the EU went beyond its declaratory statements and launched the first ever Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) mission, EUPM, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and subsequently, the first military operation, Concordia, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Currently, the military operation EUFOR Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Union’s largest mission to date, EULEX, in Kosovo, provide tangible illustrations of the EU’s continued commitment to ensuring peace and stability in the region. Furthermore, the objectives of the Union and the work of the High Representative are also supported by the European Union Special Representatives (EUSRs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

On 1 July 2013, Croatia became the 28th member state of the European Union. In 2012, Montenegro opened the accession negotiations, followed by Serbia in 2013. In June 2018, the European Council agreed to conditionally open the accession negotiations with Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in June 2019. The prospect of EU membership remains open to the potential candidates: Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.

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    06June 2011
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    The Western Balkans and the EU: 'the hour of Europe'

    Today, more than fifteen years after the end of the wars of Yugoslavia’s dissolution, the ‘Balkan question’ remains more than ever a ‘European question’.

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    22October 2010
    By
    The Institute's quarterly newsletter No. 33

    In this quarter's issue of the newsletter, EUISS director Álvaro de Vasconcelos, explores the increasing inter-connection of actors beyond the big powers, F. Stephen Larrabee highlights the work yet to be done by the EU in the Balkans and the Eastern neighbourhood, and Luis Peral considers the EU's responsibility within the International Criminal Court.

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    30August 2010
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    Serbia’s Srebrenica Declaration: a small step, but in the right direction

    On 11 July 2010, Serbian President Boris Tadic attended the fifteenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. His attendance at the event comes just three months after the Serbian parliament passed what has been called a ‘landmark’ and a ‘monumental’ declaration on Srebrenica on 1 April 2010.  

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    13July 2010
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    The Institute's quarterly newsletter No.32

    In this quarter's issue of the newsletter, EUISS director Álvaro de Vasconcelos writes about Europe's need to continue impressing its brand of multilateral governance. Guest author Srdjan Dizdarevic; suggests that for BiH to move faster towards the EU, civil society is key in pushing the country's politicians for faster reforms. EUISS Senior Research Fellow Giovanni Grevi explores the future of global governance amidst the shifts in power away from the EU and the US and toward emerging countries.

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    24March 2010
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    The EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina: powers, decisions and legitimacy

    A new storm is brewing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The public order created by the Dayton Agreement to end the conflict and bloodshed of the previous three years is under profound strain. Bart M.J. Szewczyk analyses the Bonn Powers - an integral part of this order - and concludes with some policy recommendations.

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    09November 2009
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    The fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification

    On 30 October, three elderly statesmen met to congratulate each other on the role they played in Germany’s reunification: Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev and George Bush. They all all their own reasons for doing so. The Russian President had ruled out the use of violence to keep the Soviet empire intact. He just let go and, with the fall of the Wall, the most dramatic event which closed the twentieth century, the whole Soviet empire collapsed, and in a domino effect that spread with breathtaking speed the regimes of Eastern European bloc countries were toppled one after another.

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    19October 2009
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    ESDP: The first 10 years (1999-2009)

    This book breaks new ground by providing the first comprehensive review of every ESDP operation to date. It explains how the EU institutions responsible for international crisis management have developed and functioned, reviews the civil and military resources available to the ESDP, and analyses the key partnerships between the EU and other international organisations.

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    28June 2009
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    Monitoring the BiH integration processes: a comparative report for 2009

    Over the last ten years since the Zagreb Summit opened the way for Western Balkan countries to approximate to EU standards through the Stabilisation and Association Process, the spirit of regional cooperation seen at the summit has deteriorated.

    While the technical mechanisms for regional cooperation remain through initiatives such as the Regional Cooperation Council, the political dimension has all but faded completely.

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    22June 2009
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    War crimes, conditionality and EU integration in the Western Balkans

    The political conditions for opening the path towards EU integration for the countries of the Western Balkans include both full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and regional reconciliation. This paper examines the extent to which this strategy has worked, looking at questions of leadership and political will, as well as the place that EU integration takes on national agendas.

  • 20February 2009
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    Kosovo: one year on

    On 17 February 2009, Kosovo celebrated the first anniversary of its independence. Kosovo’s first year was relatively smooth, and with the exception of a number of violent incidents in the north of the country soon after independence, the much anticipated Serbian nationalist backlash never occurred on the scale many feared.

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