From the Zagreb Summit to the Zagreb Summit: Analysis of the European Union Enlargement Policy: the Case of Western Balkans

Abstract

The study presents changes in the European Union enlargement policy since the Zagreb Summit in 2000 and introduces the main steps of the Western Balkans’ integration process until the next Zagreb Summit in 2020. The aim of this work is to show that, although the enlargement is the EU’s most successful external policy that accompanies the whole history of the Community, and in addition, its continuity is clearly visible during the twenty years discussed in the study, it has slowed down sharply recently. Consequently, the credibility of the entire EU enlargement process in the region has been undermined. By analysing EU documents and other primary sources I would like to show that since the 2004 enlargement the EU has been more cautious and has introduced more and more conditions. The EU treats the enlargement as an open-ended process, refrains from any concrete promises and strengthens that speed of progress towards accession to the EU depends on the political will of the country to implement the necessary reforms and results of europeanisation. However, despite its stick and carrots policy, the EU is committed to enlargement and the integration of the Western Balkans, which it reaffirmed from time to time, most recently at the May summit.