Press

Risk of instability in the Western Balkans: the EU can no longer 'wait-and-see'

Press release

26 May 2010

Pre-occupied with its financial troubles, the EU is no longer paying attention to the Western Balkans. As a result it is losing credibility and influence in a region that may slide back towards instability. The EU's foreign ministers urgently need to rethink their policies towards the Balkans, starting at the forthcoming Sarajevo Summit on 2 June.

This is the main conclusion of Beyond wait-and-see: the way forward for EU Balkan policy, a policy brief by Balkan experts Heather Grabbe, Gerald Knaus and Daniel Korski, published by the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The brief is embargoed until 27 May 0.01 CET.

For the full embargoed text: http://ecfr.eu/page/-/documents/balkan-policy-brief.pdf

The authors are available for interviews and analysis. For press enquiries, their contact details are:

• Heather Grabbe:
  Telephone: +32 (0) 2 505 4646
  Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

• Gerald Knaus:
  Telephone: +1 (0) 617 955 6890
  Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
  
  
• Daniel Korski:
  Telephone: +44 (0) 7876 616 302
  Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

For other press enquires, contact ECFR's press office at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or on +44 7787 431 820.

Listen to an audio podcast with Heather Grabbe on this paper here.

The EU's 'wait-and-see' approach to the Western Balkans needs to be rethought to sustain the progress of the last couple of years, and avert the threat of future instability. Grabbe, Knaus and Korski argue that the EU needs to use the EU-Balkan summit in Sarajevo on 2 June to announce an intention to boost the EU's engagement in the Western Balkans. This will keep them on the path to stability, prosperity and eventual EU membership.

The authors say:

Like the original EU members half a century ago, it is a shared vision of the future that the newly independent, fragile and still mutually suspicious countries of the Western Balkans have in common. The EU must now decide whether to start delivering on the promises it made.

Using the tools it already has, the EU can support reform in the region through healthy competition, at no extra cost. The recent visa liberalisation in the Western Balkans demonstrates how the EU can effectively use its soft power and tangible incentives to gain leverage and progress in the region.

In particular, Grabbe, Knaus and Korski recommend the EU streamline the accession process in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.[1]

You can find more on the EU's Western Balkans policy - including podcasts and commentary pieces - on ECFR's website, www.ecfr.eu.

Notes:

• 1. This paper, like all ECFR publications, represents the views of its authors, not the collective position of ECFR or its Council Members.
• 2. Heather Grabbe has been the director of OSI-Brussels. She previously worked as senior advisor to European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn.
• 3. Gerald Knaus is a fellow at the Carr Center at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Governance and founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative.
• 4. Daniel Korski is a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He was previously deputy head of the UK's Post-Conflict Reconstruction Unit, also worked as political adviser to Paddy Ashdown, former High Representative of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• 5. The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is the first pan-European think-tank. Launched in October 2007, its objective is to conduct research and promote informed debate across Europe on the development of coherent and effective European values based foreign policy.

[1] Croatia is expected to join the EU in 2013. The other Western Balkan states cannot hope to start accession talks before 2012, making 2020 the earliest possible accession date.