Challenges of continued EU enlargement to the Western Balkans - Croatia's experience

Croatia's EU membership is a success of the EU's enlargement policy and the long term preparations of the country. It confirms credibility of the EU's Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) and proves once again that EU membership can be achieved by following the enlargement template. However due to the EU's current preoccupation with impacts of the economic crisis and the internal issues, as well as slow reforms, weak state capacities and soft security challenges in the Western Balkans, the process of enlargement has slowed down. This paper provides an assessment of the EU's current enlargement strategy towards the region considering Croatia's experience. This is important because Croatia is the first country in the region that experienced the new EU negotiation instruments and also the first country that negotiated accession with the enlarged EU under the new external circumstances. The paper argues that the success of further enlargement in the Western Balkans largely depends upon the reinvigoration of the current enlargement policy and the strengthening of implementation of reforms in the Western Balkan region. (original abstract)