Western Balkans in the loop: Reshaping regional cooperation in times of uncertainty

• Over the past years, EU enlargement policy has gone through a process of nationalization and intricate accession negotiation technicalities, which have raised perplexities regarding the Union’s genuine interest in the Western Balkans and weakened its credibility. The declaration of Juncker in 2014, stating that there would not be any further enlargement during his mandate as President of the Commission was only the first of a series of mixed signals sent by the EU to the region. As such, 2018 was marked by deep divisions between EU Member States, and particularly with regards to the process of opening and/or advancement of the accession negotiations with the Western Balkan countries. For instance, France (backed by the Netherlands) showed a firm determination to postpone this process after the European Parliament elections due to fears of stoking anti-immigrant sentiments at the domestic level.

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