REFOCUSING THE EUROPEAN UNION ATTENTION ON THE WESTERN BALKANS: THE IMPACT OF THE BERLIN PROCESS
REFOCUSING THE EUROPEAN UNION ATTENTION ON THE WESTERN BALKANS: THE IMPACT OF THE BERLIN PROCESS
Author(s): Elton TotaSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law, International Law, Political Theory, Political Sciences, Civil Society, Governance, Developing nations, Politics and law, Politics and society, History and theory of political science, Comparative politics, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment, EU-Legislation, Geopolitics, Corruption - Transparency - Anti-Corruption
Published by: Institute for Research and European Studies - Bitola
Keywords: Western Balkans; Berlin Process; European Union; EU Integration; Regional Cooperation
Summary/Abstract: The expectations of the Western Balkans (WB) on the EU membership perspective could have been ‘undermined’ with the halt in the EU enlargement process as declared by the former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in 2014. In the meantime, even though the WB countries were part of the EU’s regional approach through the mechanism of Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) working on the implementation of the Acquis Communautaire, the slowing down of the integration process could have economic and political consequences and threaten the regional stability. This paper shows how the Berlin Process (2014) was the proper intergovernmental initiative taken by some EU Member States to keep alive the EU integration perspective of the WB, thus refocusing the EU attention on the challenges the WB was facing on the way towards EU integration.
Journal: Journal of Liberty and International Affairs
- Issue Year: 6/2020
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 155-166
- Page Count: 12
- Language: English