The Rocky Road of Western Balkan Countries toward European Integration: The Need for a Credible and Effective Approach

Abstract

The EU enlargement has been considered as a one of EU’s most powerful policy tools which has helped to transform Central and Eastern European Countries from communist regimes to modern, well-functioning market economy and functional democracies. Such transformative power has not been replicated in the case of Western Balkan countries. Since 2003, when the EU leaders promised the European future to Western Balkan countries, save Croatia, which joined in 2013, other Western Balkan countries are backsliding on the rule of law, media freedoms, and democratic accountability. State capture and the growth of corrupt patronage networks are becoming more present in the society. Recently, with the legislative measures to prevent COVID-19, the Western Balkan countries are becoming more authoritarian. The paper argues that lack of EU to become a ‘transformative power’ in the Western Balkan countries hinders the risk of this region to return to authoritarianism and opens the ‘Pandora box’ for non-EU actors to advance their agenda, which impede NATO expansion and the EU enlargement. Therefore, the current enlargement strategy should be revised to address problems faced by Western Balkan countries and most importantly, EU Member States should not politicize enlargement process by exerting their veto power during accession process. A credible enlargement approach needs to be adopted where rules and principles are clearly set.