Western Balkans [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

The European Union’s planned enlargement into the Western Balkans has recently drawn increased attention. In February 2018, the European Commission released its new enlargement strategy, giving a credible accession perspective to the region. The latest impetus came last month, when the Commission proposed opening entry talks with Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Presenting the 2018 Communication on the EU enlargement policy to the European Parliament, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the EU needed to eventually accept new members from the Western Balkans to avoid the risk of a new war in the region. Many EU Member States insist that before enlarging, the EU must implement internal reforms. Future members must meet many tough entry criteria. From the Western Balkans, only Croatia has so far joined the EU, in 2013. Accession talks continue with Montenegro and Serbia. Albania and FYR Macedonia are official membership candidates, while Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a potential candidate country, along with Kosovo.

This note offers links to reports and commentaries from some major international think-tanks and research institutes on EU enlargement and the Western Balkans. More reports on the topic can be found in a previous edition of ‘What Think Tanks are thinking’, published in October 2017.

Maintaining momentum in enlargement
Centre for European Policy Studies, April 2018

Do the Western Balkans face a coming Russian storm?
European Council on Foreign Relations, April 2018

The Western Balkans’ EU dream: Ambition calls for a new process
Centre for European Policy Studies, April 2018

Beyond Enlargement: Why the EU‘s Western Balkans policy needs a reset
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, April 2018

Road towards the EU: How does it look like?
European Policy Centre, Belgrade, April 20198

The EU’s next stop: The Western Balkans
Carnegie Europe, April 2018

Macedonia: A new beginning?
Journal of Democracy, April 2018

The 2016 coup attempt in Montenegro: Is Russia’s Balkans footprint expanding?
Foreign Policy Research Institute, April 2018

Towards a new thinking on the Western Balkans
Instituto Affari Internazionali, March 2018

EU’s benchmarking mechanism on ‘fundamentals first’: Results and challenges, benchmarking in Kosovo
Group for Legal and Political Studies and others, March 2018

Propaganda and disinformation in the Western Balkans: How the EU can counter Russia’s information war
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, March 2018

Bosnia on the chopping block: The potential for violence and steps to prevent it
Foreign Policy Research Institute, March 2018

Creating demand for reforms beyond EU conditionality
European Policy Centre, March 2018

EU enlargement: a new strategy, with hands by the brakes
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, March 2018

The Western Balkans on the road to the European Union
Bruegel, February 2018

China’s Balkans silk road: Does it pave or block the way of Western Balkans to the European Union?
Centre international de formation européenne, February 2018

In search of consensus: What is Kosovo’s red line?
Group for Legal and Political Studies, February 2018

Balkans: On track for EU membership or stagnation?
European Council on Foreign Relations, February 2018

Don’t believe the hype: Why Bosnian democracy will not end this October
European Stability Initiative, February 2018

Is Central Europe damaging EU enlargement?
Carnegie Europe, February 2018

Serbia, between the hammer and the anvil: An overview of the security of supply in South-Eastern Europe
Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, February 2018

Assessing Russia’s economic footprint in the Western Balkans. Corruption and state capture risks
Center for the Study of Democracy, February 2018

Serbia scores a weak Two in professionalisation of public administration
European Policy Centre, Belgrade, February 2018

2018: The year credible EU enlargement policy returns?
European Policy Centre, January 2018

The Western Balkans: Between stabilisation and integration in the European Union
Fondation Robert Schuman, January 2018

A decisive year for the EU’s re-engagement with the Western Balkans
Centre for European Policy Studies, January 2018

Key problems in prosecuting corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A substantive law perspective
Analitika, January 2018

The EU and the Western Balkans: So near and yet so far
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, December 2018

Exiting or entering the Union: EU consistency in accession and withdrawal negotiations
College of Europe, December 2017

The Western Balkans on the Visegrad countries’ agenda
Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade, December 2017

Sustainable policy impact through state-of-the-art research and advocacy
Center for the Study of Democracy, November 2017

À quand l’union des Balkans?
La Vie des Idées, November 2017

Possible date for EU accession and the years ahead
European Policy Centre, October 2017

Macedonian Obama or the platform from Tirana: A guide to the integrative power sharing model
Center for Research and Policy Making, October 2017

The good, the bad and the ugly: Chinese influence in the Western Balkans
EUROPEUM, October 2017

Read this briefing on ‘Western Balkans‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.