ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the evolving political framework, that is the policy of the European Union in the Balkans. The 1992-1995 war in Bosnia—a deadly mix of Serb aggression and civil war between the three ethnic communities, the Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs—ended in almost total destruction of the traditionally multiethnic Balkans society. The year 2000—roughly a decade into the Yugoslav conflict—can be considered a turning point. With the death of President Tudjman of Croatia in late 1999 and the democratic “October revolt” of 2000 in Serbia that brought down President Milosevic, the two main culprits for the Yugoslav tragedy had left the political scene. While in the early phase of the Yugoslav conflict Europe’s role was rendered inefficient by policy divisions, strategic incoherence, and operational challenges, it took the Kosovo crisis of 1998/99 and the political changes in Serbia and Croatia.
