Western Balkans

Generally, the reconciliation processes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in most other Balkan countries seem to retrograde. Economic and political situations are still unstable and a brutal plunder of state and social property left devastating consequences. The EU's interference in the region doesn't help stabilising the 'black mosaic'.

Obviously, the destiny of sustainable transition of Western Balkan and Eastern European economies is above all in control of the respective countries themselves. Still, the EU is in a decisive position to create conditions for a dynamic of change and a successful modernisation.

The EU has lost a great deal of its standing and influence in the Western Balkans. Domestic political elites consolidate their power through ever-tightening control over civic space. Why do millions of euros in governance and civil society assistance have failed to support robust democracies? 

More than 8,000 people have crossed the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina since the beginning of the year, the number is increasing each day. Only a few hundred of those who are registered are decent accommodations, others live on the streets, in provisional camps. Those happier among them found accommodation with the local population or in hostels and hotels.

With an unleashed US president seemingly determined to destroy tried and trusted transatlantic ties along with the multilateral order that the United States created together with its Western European allies after WWII, the European Union finds itself more and more on its own. The EU has to (re)define what role it wants to play in a global context and in its neighbourhood. In light of the loss of important military and soft power through Brexit and the ongoing internal crisis characterised by Euroscepticism and right-wing populism, this prospect is uninviting, but urgency and necessity are obvious.  In this web dossier, we will focus on three topics: the Western Balkans enlargement strategy; the conflicts in the Middle East (Jerusalem, Syria), the refugee crisis and the transatlantic tug-of-war. ​