Avoiding the Trap of Another Paper Exercise: Why the Western Balkans Need a Human Development-centered EU Enlargement Model

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2020

Avoiding the Trap of Another Paper Exercise: Why the Western Balkans Need a Human Development-centered EU Enlargement Model

POLICY STUDY

The European Commission intends to publish a new methodology for the EU enlargement in the Western Balkans in early 2020. While the hope is that the new document will re-establish EU consensus on enlargement and revive its exhausted policy toward the Western Balkan region, there are already clear signs that it will all end up as another paper pushing exercise. Without tackling the root causes of the current situation, notably the enduring socio-economic entropy and political backsliding in the Western Balkans, this new move will only diminish the leverage of the EU. What is needed is a human development-centered EU enlargement model for the Western Balkans.