No Time to Lose for the EU: Overcoming the Accession Stalemate in the Western Balkans

Abstract

EU enlargement policy toward the Western Balkans has never been as contested as today. French President Emmanuel Macron has made reform of the EU accession process a precondition to opening membership talks with Albania and North Macedonia. While the current stalemate severely undermines the EU’s reform and stabilization agenda in the region, it also offers an opportunity for an overhaul of the accession process, which is long overdue.