ABSTRACT
The relationship of the European Union (EU) with the Western Balkans is fundamentally based on the principle of enlargement as a mechanism for sociopolitical transformation. That is, to cement the Balkan region’s conflicts and post-authoritarian transitions the EU has worked with regional governments to promote regional reconciliation and co-operation, the prize for which is eventual inclusion in the EU itself. As the Thessaloníki Declaration of the 2003 EU-Western Balkans Summit made clear: ‘The EU reiterates its unequivocal support to the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries. The future of the Balkans is within the European Union … We reiterate that rapprochement with the EU will go hand in hand with the development of regional co-operation.’ And although nearly two decades have passed since that summit, EU policy-makers in Brussels (the Belgian capital and seat of the EU’s administrative and political apparatus) maintain that the essence of their policy towards the region can be distilled to this sentiment.
