Bilateral disputes, numerous in the Western Balkans, continue to cast a dark shadow over the countries of the region. Some EU member states involved in some of these disputes have used them to raise issues that have nothing to do with the EU membership criteria, thereby blocking the EU’s enlargement agenda. Thus, the EU’s failure to come up with a comprehensive strategy to resolve these disputes has undermined the overall credibility of the EU’s enlargement policy to the region.
If the EU is committed to integrating the Western Balkan countries into the Union and promoting long-term stability and reconciliation in the region, it will need a more determined and proactive strategy to bring these disputes to a resolution. peaceful resolution. Issues that are not part of the membership criteria – such as those related to history and identity – should be treated separately from the membership process itself.
Drawing on its own experience of overcoming the legacy of the past and building a process based on reconciliation and the rule of law, the EU can show that, no matter how sensitive or complex the issues that divide countries, solutions that are not imposed but based on mutual trust and respect can be found.
This article is published as part of the ‘Support for the further development of the model of progressive accession of the Western Balkans to the European Union‘, a collaboration between CEPS and the European Policy Center (CEP), based in Belgrade.