Идеята за обединена Eвропа и перспективата на Западните Балкани
The idea of a United Europe and the prospect of the Western Balkans

Author(s): Desislava Sotirova
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Media studies, Communication studies
Published by: Факултет по журналистика и масова комуникация, Софийски университет „Св. Кл. Охридски”
Keywords: European idea; European Union; enlargement of the EU; Euro-Atlantic integration; Euro-Atlantic values; Western Balkans
Summary/Abstract: The article aims to outline the message of the concepts of European and Euro-Atlantic integration. The text draws attention to the new conditions and criteria for membership of the European Union for the countries of the Western Balkan which they must fulfill to join the EU. Their recovery and coping with the legacy of the severe wars from the 1990s have not yet come to an end. They first need to pass the stabilization and democratization processes and only after that can be associated. The paper focuses on the European Union’s policy towards the Western Balkans from launching the Stabilization and Association Process in 1999 until the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2018. Despite all the progress during the last two decades in the Western Balkans countries, they still don’t have enough achievements in some of the most important areas – democracy, rule of law, human rights and minority rights, and competitive market. The willingness of the Western Balkans’ governments to join the Union is prominent. Still, the European leaders are not made any commitment to certain promises regarding the European integration of the region.

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