AFCO interactive TO

• The Berlin process is an initiative that aims to facilitate EU accession of the WB6 through supporting regional reconciliation and cooperation as well as laying the foundation for sustainable growth. Programmes initiated under the Berlin Process’ umbrella focus on the development of transport, enterprises in the Western Balkans, and general political cooperation.
• The Open Balkan Initiative, formally founded in 2021, is a measure adopted by the governments of Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania. Within those countries, there is free movement of people, goods, capital and services, aiming to accelerate EU accession process through economic development and regional integration.
• The legal basis for EU accession are the accession criteria, known as the Copenhagen criteria. The criteria include political and economic factors as well as the implementation of EU laws. The European Commission and the European Council then begin negotiations about the accession of candidate countries. Throughout this pre-accession period, candidate countries are supported financially, administratively and technically to implement EU legislation.

Member States blocking negotiation

Some Member States and EU institutions have been criticised for their lack of interest in actually integrating the WB6 into the EU, resulting in concerns regarding a lack of trust by both politicians as well as the general public in the WB6. For example, due to conflicts with Bulgaria and Greece, North Macedonia and Albania have been blocked from accession talks in the past. Thus, the European Council has faced criticism on its stance on accession, which were influenced by political factors, contradicting the purely technical nature of the Copenhagen criteria. In the past, the EU did not always hold its promises towards the WB6. Kosovo*, for example, has fulfilled the criteria for visa-free travel several years ago but has yet to await the entry into force of this pledge. Further, North Macedonia’s name-change to settle a long-running dispute with Greece went along with expectations to ease EU accession, something that has not occurred. A political leader of a WB6 country has voiced their perception of the EU accession procedure by stating that “Enlargement has not stalled - it has stopped.” The EU’s tedious pledges for EU accession, ranging as far back as 2003, have not yet been fulfilled, resulting in a deterioration of trust from politicians in the Western Balkans. This has been accompanied with a decline in the Western Balkan’s public perception of the EU, with North Macedonians having the lowest approval rates of the EU in decades and only 20% of Serbians viewing the EU positively.

Local conflicts

Cultural, historical and border-related conflicts within the Western Balkans are one of the main stumbling stones on the WB6’s road to the EU. It is argued that due to current conflicts between the WB6, the EU is not willing to “import” the disputes of the Western Balkans into its institutions. However, this presents many issues. For example, the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s are the reason for several unresolved conflicts. There are ongoing disputes regarding alleged past armed conflicts, with some states that formerly were part of Yugoslavia not prosecuting war criminals sentenced by international tribunals. In order to enter the EU, Croatia was mandated to settle similar issues and followed this demand. Further, one of the most controversial conflicts in the Western Balkans is the question of Kosovo*’s independence. While Kosovo* declares itself a sovereign state, Serbia claims authority over the region, resulting in consistent disputes and a diplomatic stalemate. Kosovo* is not unanimously recognised outside of the Western Balkans either, with 22 out of 27 Member States recognising it as a sovereign state. The strained relationship between Kosovo* and Serbia is also displayed by the fact that Kosovo* is not a part of the Open Balkan Initiative.

• The Directorate General on European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) assists candidate countries to meet the Copenhagen criteria and thus join the EU. It monitors their progress and supports accession negotiations.

• The European External Action Service (EEAS) is also called the EU’s diplomatic service. The EEAS carries out the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy to promote peace, prosperity, security, and the interests of Europeans across the globe. It collaborates with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

• Member States possess a veto right in the accession process, allowing them to contradict a decision or prevent a candidate from accessing the EU, as Slovenia did for Croatia in 2009.

• The Western Balkans 6 (WB6) refers to a group of potential members targeted by the EU enlargement policy. This group is constituted by Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo*. Out of the WB6, five are candidate countries which means that they are in the process of transposing EU legislation into their national law.

The EU has clearly established its commitment to its enlargement, namely to welcoming more European countries as Member States. In order to become Member States, countries have to meet many strict requirements. The enlargement of the EU is a process with significant geopolitical influence, and is therefore becoming progressively more difficult due to the conflicts happening in the neighbouring countries. In the Western Balkans, unresolved conflicts remain a significant obstacle to their accession in the EU. At the same time, entering the EU is expected to bring a lot of benefits to Western Balkan countries, particularly in terms of their economic development. In some cases, Member States decide to actively oppose the accession of candidate countries to the EU by exercising their veto right, demonstrating the many difficulties the accession process entails. In order for candidate countries to be granted the status of a Member State they have to convince every stakeholder, from the EU institutions to each Member State.

In 2013, Croatia obtained EU membership and thus became the latest member to have joined the EU. Nevertheless, Croatia went through a long process to achieve its aims. After gaining its independence in 1991, Croatia succeeded in restoring diplomatic relations with the ex-Yugoslavia countries following the breakup of the state.In 2004, they started accession talks with Croatia although the EU postponed them due to their inability to arrest General Ante Gotovina, seeked by the Hague tribunal on war crimes charges. In 2006 the European Commission published a report on Croatia's progress towards EU membership, saying that more needs to be achieved. Three years later, Slovenia threatened to block Croatia from joining the EU because of a continuing dispute over borders. After 2 years of transposing the EU legislations in order to suit the EU accession requirements, Croatia successfully completed the negotiations in 2011. They signed the treaty paving the way for it to achieve full membership in July 2013. The Commission agreed on Croatia to join the EU despite the corruption issues that still need to be tackled. Croatia finally joined the Eurozone3 as well as joined the Schengen Area4 last january.

3The eurozone, officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 20 member states of the European Union that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency.4The Schengen Area is an area comprising 27 European countries, of which 23 are from the EU, that have officially abolished all passports and all other types of border control at their mutual borders.

The EU has always been committed to its enlargement1, eager to welcome countries that fulfil its requirements, namely the Copenhagen criteria. There are currently eight candidate countries, out of which five are in the Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Kosovo*2 has also applied to become a membership candidatebut has not yet been granted this status by the EU. While the prospect of joining the EU had already seemed attractive to the neighbouring countries, the Russian invasion in Ukraine emphasised the importance of being part of the EU, in order to promote peace and stability within the region. Although the EU’s enlargement policy is sometimes seen as a purely technical and bureaucratic policy or process, it is also a political one. The EU fast tracked the accession process of Ukraine and Moldova by granting them the status of candidate countries in order to ensure security, which provoked criticism of the lengthy accession process of the Balkans. Being a candidate implies satisfying some requirements known as the Copenhagen criteria. Besides the first criterion being related to geography, it also includes a stable democracy, respect of human rights, a functioning market economy as well as the acceptance of every EU legislation. Additionally, candidate countries could potentially face additional difficulties in their accession process. As an example, Croatia’s conflict with Slovenia regarding borders served as an obstacle during Croatia’s accession process in the EU.

1 The process of something becoming bigger.2 The designation of Kosovo* is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo* Declaration of Independence.

Political burdens

In the annually published Enlargement Package, the EU names the concrete issues hindering respective states from entering the EU. The Enlargement Package from 2022 named several issues, with organised crime and corruption being the most prevalent ones across the WB6. Further, none of the WB6 are considered to be functional market economies by the European Commission, meaning that they do not meet the economic criteria. Corruption is a major issue in the Western Balkans, with some international organisations suggesting that this is due to a lack of investigation, prosecution and sanctioning of corruption felonies, raising questions about the state of the rule of law in the WB6. In 2018, the European Commission claimed that there were “clear elements of state capture, including links with organised crime and corruption at all levels of government and administration.” The EU has made financial and political efforts to combat those issues, but their success has been limited. Further, organised crime is highly prevalent in the WB6, with the main offences in this area including migrant smuggling and drug smuggling. The Balkan route has been one of the main sources of illegal immigration into the EU, with over 700.000 irregular migrants entering via the route in 2015. The EU has made attempts to close the Balkan route, including over €200 million of funding to facilitate better border management and more effective handling of migration within the region. Another burden for the WB6’s EU accession is their economical state. It is claimed that they do not have satisfactorily competitive market economies and their standard of lliving does not meet the required level. According to the EU enlargement commissioner Várhelyi, closing the “enormous gap in terms of economic development” between Member States and the WB6 is focal for their accession.