The periphery of the periphery: The Western Balkans and the euro crisis

by Dimitar Bechev

Next July Croatia will become the 28th EU member, but as Europe struggles to deal with the euro crisis, has any further enlargement into the Western Balkans frozen to a halt? Although the temptation for the EU is to adopt a ‘wait and see’ strategy, the stability of the status quo may prove deceptive.

There is a silent pact between the enlargement-fatigued and crisis-hit EU member states and rent-seeking Balkan elites who do not mind slowing the pace of reform, with a ‘fire-brigade’ approach to periodic crises and outbursts of violence in Kosovo and elsewhere.

But in a new ECFR paper, “The periphery of the the Western Balkans and the euro crisis”, Dimitar Bechev warns that a failure to deliver transformation in the region would hurt EU credibility in other regions, like the Middle East and former Soviet Union.

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2012

About the author

Dimitar Bechev is the director of the European Policy Institute, a think-tank based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Previously, he held research fellowships at Harvard University, University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, and headed the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Dr. Bechev has written extensively on EU’s external relations, the politics and modern history of Turkey and the Balkans, and Russia’s foreign policy. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, the American Interest, Politico, Foreign Policy, and openDemocracy. He holds a D.Phil. (PhD) from the University of Oxford.