ABSTRACT
This chapter compares previous rounds of enlargement with the current Stabilization and Association Process that is applied in the Western Balkans. The authors argue that despite the seeming consistency with which states apply for EU membership and eventually accede, there is nothing inevitable about EU enlargement. The process is ultimately political despite the EU’s portrayal of itself as a normative actor spreading its values through enlargement. Moreover, as the EU learns lessons from successive rounds of enlargement, it can and does adjust the requirements it makes of applicants. Adjustments are also made to address the standing of particular applicants. Hence, in the Western Balkan context, EU engagement includes measures aimed as much at consolidating fragile states and ‘member state building’ as at more traditional preparations for accession.
