The Policy of the European Union toward the Yugoslav Successor States 1996–1999: Stabilization through Regional Cooperation

Grizo, Melina and Ananiev, Jovan (2014) The Policy of the European Union toward the Yugoslav Successor States 1996–1999: Stabilization through Regional Cooperation. New Balkan Politics, 16/14 (16). ISSN 1409-8709

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Abstract

The policy of the European Union aimed at reconciling the stabilization dimension with the prospective integration of the states of the Western Balkans seems to have produced few results in recent years. In this paper the authors attempt to provide an account of the short historical period in which the EU developed a coherent regional policy towards the Balkans for the first time. This policy, called a ‘Regional Approach’, was designed by the EU’s institutions for the region in late 1995 and was pursued until the Kosovo crisis of 1999. This policy placed a paramount emphasis on the stabilization of the region during a post-conflict period. The analysis in this paper is centered on the questions of the scope of states covered by the ‘Regional Approach’ policy, its objectives, the principle of conditionality it employed and the reasons for its limited success. The argument contributes to the wider debate about the features of the EU’s policy designed for the stabilization and integration of the Western Balkans. The paper also attempts to identify the points in which the ‘Regional Approach’ departs from the usual features of the EU’s regional policies. In particular, comparisons are made with the EU’s policy toward the region of Eastern and Central Europe, developing at the same period of time as the ‘Regional Approach’. In addition, the paper also contributes to the general discussion about the modalities of the EU’s regional policies.

Key words: Regional Approach, European Union’s regional policy, Western Balkans

Introduction

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Social Sciences > Political Science
Divisions: Faculty of Law
Depositing User: Jovan Ananiev
Date Deposited: 05 Feb 2015 13:50
Last Modified: 05 Feb 2015 13:50
URI: https://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/id/eprint/12431

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