Ivan Milovanović
ENLARGEMENT TOWARDS WESTERN BALKANS: BETWEEN REALITY AND NEW METHODOLOGY
The paper analyzes the relations between the European Union and the Western Balkans. Apart from that, the paper deals with the relationship between stability and democracy, and all the recent developments that influenced review of the existing enlargement rules. In early February 2020, the European Commission presented a draft proposal for a new methodology for enlargement to the Western Balkans. Such a move was expected since the Non-Paper proposed by France has already provoked conflicting considerations of a possible change in existing rules. The European Commission's proposal came, perhaps at an unfavorable time for the European Union, because of the pandemic, but not unexpectedly. Twenty years since the establishment of the Stabilization and Association Process, it has become clear that in the case of enlargement to the Western Balkans, something is wrong. During this period, only Serbia and Montenegro have begun negotiations with the Union, North Macedonia and Albania will get this opportunity more recently, while in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo the light at the end of the tunnel is still not visible. Therefore, the paper itself analyzes possible obstacles, problems, and reasons for the dead-lock in enlargement, which will, it turns out, clearly indicate the direction in which the new methodology should (have) go(ne). The author concludes that, despite intentions to change the process, there is still a lack of serious will to change those parts of the process, such as conditioning, that have been the biggest obstacle.
