THE INTEGRATION PROCESS OF WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE IMPACT OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION ON UKRAINE
Agon DEMJAHA, Teuta AGAI-DEMJAHA
Abstract
All countries of the Western Balkans have clearly indicated their wish to eventually join the European Union. Although the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003 acknowledged the Western Balkan countries as potential EU members and reinforced the EU’s commitment to the region, the accession process of these six countries has been long, slow and often frustrating. The so-called “enlargement fatigue” among member states and insufficient pace of accession reforms among Western Balkans countries have for years stalled their integration process. The war in Ukraine has dramatically reshaped geopolitical environment in Europe and renewed the EU enlargement dynamics and priorities. Due to concerns related to the European security and stability, the EU has first granted Ukraine and Moldova the candidate status in June 2023, and has then invited them to start accession negotiations in December 2023. At the same time, the war in Ukraine has also reinvigorated the EU efforts to move forward the stalled accession process of the Western Balkans countries. The European Commission has introduced innovative incentive-based frameworks, such as the New EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans as well as gradual access to the EU single market. The paper aims to analyse the impact of the war in Ukraine on the EU integration process of the Western Balkans countries. It will be shown that although the war in Ukraine did create a favourable political momentum for the integration of countries of the Western Balkans, the EU conditionality related to successful domestic reforms and institution-building remained a precondition for eventual full accession.
Pages: 51 - 58