№1-2023-07
№1-2023-07
DOI: 10.22281/2413-9912-2023-07-01-63-71
Islamov D.R.
EXPERIENCE OF CROATIAN ACCESSION TO THE EU AND ITS IMPACT ON THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION OF THE WESTERN BALKANS IN THE 2010S
The European Union is vigorously implementing a regional policy, especially in the Western Balkans. Since the 2000s the European integration process has covered this region. However, since the 1990s EU had already commenced conducting its foreign policy while the war in the post-Yugoslav states was breaking out. The Western Balkan states can be called «enlargement countries» with a perspective to accede to the European Union. Croatian membership was the first successful case for the EU enlargement process in the Western Balkans. In addition, in the 1990s the Croatian political elite and society were far from the pro-European agenda. They assumed that a united Yugoslavia allegedly would be reestablished under the auspices of the EU. During that time tendencies of rescuing sovereignty and state-building had been prevailing in the newly independent state, which can be called an isolationist’ policy. But since the 2000s, after the reshuffles in the political elite, Croatia has declared its core task to join the EU. The outcome of this policy is the beginning of the negotiation process from 2005 till 2011, the holding of a referendum in 2012 with further joining the EU. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to examine the EU’s foreign policy towards Croatia in the 1990s as well as the negotiation process undertook in the 2000s. Furthermore, the author touches upon the impact of Croatia’s experience on the negotiation process of other Western Balkan states in the 2010s (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo).
Keywords: European Union, Croatia, Western Balkans, European integration, common foreign policy, EU accession process, EU enlargement policy, EU accession negotiations.
Kazan Federal University (Russia
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