UCEP: The Western Balkans’ Path to the EU: Lessons for Ukraine

The paper by Ukrainian Centre for European Policy describes the essence and the recent developments of the EU enlargement focusing on explanations of how the enlargement process works and what its recent trends are, as well as identifying the key stumbling blocks that impede successful progress of candidate countries on the way to signing the accession treaty. Issues such as conflicts with neighboring EU member states and EU candidate countries, adherence of the EU to what some dub ‘stabilitocracy’ policy towards the Western Balkans region – that is, a preference of stability over democratic change —, and new geopolitical momentum for the EU enlargement policy that has been boosted again by war-inflicted Ukraine’s candidacy are examined in detail.

Full paper can be accessed here.