The EU must speed up enlargement to Western Balkans

The EU has so far failed to properly prepare the Western Balkans for entry into the bloc and to deliver on the promises it made in Thessaloniki in 2003, claims former EU Special Envoy Wolfgang Petrisch. Writing in ‘Europe’s World’, he urges the Union to step up its efforts to integrate the region.

Petrisch encourages the EU to draw on the experience of Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to accommodate the special needs of the Western Balkan states, which would “inject new hope into countries seeking membership and at the same time mitigate the fallout from Kosovo,” he writes. 

“Process-guided accession negotiations would help build the much-needed national consensus in those divided societies,” the former envoy argues. 

Petritsch is critical of the EU’s work with the Balkan states to prepare them for accession, labelling it “piecemeal”. However, he expresses the hope that following the recent phase of “enlargement fatigue”, the new treaty will herald a new, “more robust” phase of Balkan integration. 

“A reinvigorated accession process will undoubtedly contribute to the Union’s consolidation, both territorially and politically,” Petritsch argues. 

The author concludes by saying that unless the EU acts quickly, the whole region “might slide backwards again, affecting its delicate security” and bringing with it “dire social and economic consequences”.