Balkan Forum: "Negotiating the Balkans" Strategy paper and conference report (Berlin, August 22-23, 2001) (original) (raw)
Related papers
THE BALKANS TODAY: The EU and the Region
DergiPark (Istanbul University), 2015
The challenges that face the Balkans today are relatively benign compared to those that confronted the region a decade ago. Regional cooperation is ongoing and the democratic process is taking hold. Nevertheless, the region's transition is not yet complete and there. is a compelling need for-.further efforts. Especially when America's gradual retreat from Europe is taken into consideration, the need for the EU to mtJnage this transition is evident. ln this regard, it can be said that the Balkans present the principal testing !{round C?fthe EU's CFSP and the ESDP. This paper tries to focus on some of the challenges that face the region and offers ways for the international community; particularly the EU, to deal with them effectively. The Balkans are a two edged challenge for the European Union. On the one hand, they represent Europe's backyard and therefore, the need for Europe to manage them is imperative; on the other hand, the Balkans are the principal testing ground of Europe's CFSP and evolving ~SDP. Simultaneously, for the states of the Balkans, the EU represents the only viable option if the region is to escape its recent past and its retarded development. In other words, the stakes are high for all parties concerned. The successful symbiosis between the European Union and the Balkans will assure that the region's challenges will be met if realistic policy options where both the EU and the region come out on top are implemented. Defining the context, both regional and international, in assessing the Balkans today is important if one is to have a clear and balanced evaluation of developments in the region. A number of givens exist on the ground and in terms of action by the international ~ommunity towards the region. At the
The Stabilisation and Association Process in the Balkans: Overloaded Agenda and Weak Incentives?
EUI Working Paper SPS No, 2008/03, 2008
Following more than one decade of violent and uncertain transitions in the Balkans, the EU has envisaged a new strategy comprising the perspective of membership for all the countries in the region. The so-called Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) has become a word of faith loaded with high expectations for change. This paper seeks to analyze the potential of the SAP to foster promised transformation in the region. The paper proceeds in three parts. First, it elaborates on different forms of post-cold war interventions in the region; Second, it outlines the main instruments of the SAP. Third, it explores the innovative features of the SAP compared to the previous enlargement framework and analyses the implications of these innovations. The paper suggests that the SAP is an undisputed promotion compared to previous strategies in the region to the extent it has embraced the promise of membership and outlined the procedures of accession. Yet, the SAP suffers from the overloaded and not easily reconcilable double agenda combining stabilisation and association objectives. In addition, the SAP commitment to membership is rather vague and ambiguous compared to the previous case of enlargement. Overall, those features might emasculate the transformative power of EU enlargement strategy in the region since extensive conditionalities correspond to weaker incentives. Moreover, given the ambiguity inherent in the SAP, it is the dynamics within the EU itself that could mould the speed and the tone of a possible enlargement in the Balkans. It can not be taken for granted as long as the EU is busy to absorb the wide range of its new members while most EU countries keep resisting another wave of enlargement.
Journal of Global Politics and Cultural Diplomacy, 2023
The following paper represents the author's attempt to shed some light on the number of hypothetical alternatives regarding the seemingly stalled process of the European integration of Western Balkan states in the new geopolitical reality initiated firstly by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently deepened by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Through qualitative content analysis as the primary research tool, the authors have established that the explored "plan B" options are still not considered serious alternatives by mainstream politics in the EU and the negotiating countries, although some academic interest and sporadic political suggestions regarding the topic can be noticed from time to time. The main challenge in the European Union's indecisiveness towards the region remains the dilemma of how the Union should express its unwillingness to repeat previous mistakes and accept unprepared Balkan newcomers while avoiding giving too much ground to their rival regional competitors.
THE WESTERN BALKANS: ASSESSING THE EU'S STABILIZATION AND ASSOCIATION PROCESS
Article history: Abstract: The Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) launched by the EU in the aftermath of Kosovo war in 1999 has created a new policy environment for the Western Balkans countries. In exchange for EU assistance, prospect of EU accession, and continuation of preferential access to EU markets, these countries have to upgrade their institutions and governance to European standards and engage in mutual regional cooperation including other Stability Pact member – countries. The 2003 European Council in Thessaloniki reaffi rmed that all SAP countries were potential candidates for EU membership. In July 2017 the EU Trieste Balkans Summit discussed the status of the SAP and unanimously reaffi rmed the importance of providing the European perspective of the Western Balkans. The essay examines of the current status of SAP in the Western Balkans countries (WB6) based on the Copenhagen political, economic and legislature criteria using the international data bases. It argues that among the criteria, the political requirements are the most important as they lay down the framework and administrative and institutional capacity to develop stable democracy and market economy. It concludes that EU SAP has remained consistently linked to compliance with the Copenhagen criteria but the Regional Cooperation Council countries have to create a positive environment for the WB6 to fulfi ll these European standards.
Peace Building in the Balkans: Is There a Need to Stay the Course?
Connections: The Quarterly Journal, 2002
A year ago, Thomas L. Friedman published an already-famous article in which he claimed that democracy was sprouting tentatively in the ethnically pure states of the former Yugoslavia, whereas in multi-ethnic Bosnia, democratic development was farther from the goal set by the Dayton Accords than ever. Mr. Friedman's thesis is that Dayton's provisions should be abandoned, Bosnians (whatever their constituency) should decide for themselves where they want to live, and then let democracy take hold after the populations have "parted." Only this, Friedman feels, can help Bosnians to think beyond tribal interests, concluding that it is "not an accident McDonald's still refuses to operate [there]." 2 These calls to abdicate any responsibility for promoting the ideal of multiethnic coexistence as framed by the Dayton Peace Accords (DPA) are not infrequent. The International Crisis Group pointed out in its December 2000 report that elections were only helping to dig deeper divisions between communities by allowing extremists to perpetuate their strangle hold on power. 3 The ICG believes that it is time to rethink the DPA's strategy of elections as a means of speeding up democratic development and allowing a NATO pullout. It advocates that the international community take all the measures allowed by the Dayton Accords to enforce compliance by the parties, instead of putting its faith blindly in a democratic ethos that is simply not emerging. Implicit in this assessment is the notion that, since the implementation of Dayton seems too difficult, its usefulness comes into question as a matter of consequence. By extension, amendment of the DPA or its eradication would nullify the possibility of multi-ethnicity. The ICG's position is tantamount to revisionism. These positions are similar, but there are nuances. Mr. Friedman would have the international community preside over a more or less formal "population exchange" that would see Croatia and Serbia inherit a form of "sphere of influence" over their respective populations in Bosnia, while NATO would take on the spon-1