EU Integration Without Dealing with the Past? Democratisation, Reconciliation, and Regional Cooperation in the Western Balkans
This analysis examines the stalled EU integration of Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia) despite the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit promise. It argues that unresolved legacies of the 1990s wars, including contested historical interpretations, mutual mistrust, and incomplete reconciliation, hinder democratisation and regional cooperation. The article highlights that dealing with the past—through war crimes prosecution, truth commissions, and memory politics—is both a moral imperative and a formal EU membership requirement under the Stabilisation and Association Process. It notes that only Slovenia (2004) and Croatia (2013) have joined the EU, while others face stagnation due to ethno-political tensions and 'Balkanisation' tendencies. The piece suggests that Europe's model of addressing the past (Vergangenheitsbewältigung) offers lessons, but internal EU divisions and rising populism complicate the process. The transformation of EU policy from post-war reconstruction to enlargement conditionality is seen as key to progress.
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