Western Balkans in the shadow of storms
Western Balkans in the shadow of storms

Author(s): Július Lőrincz
Subject(s): Politics, Geography, Regional studies, International relations/trade, Evaluation research, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (RC SFPA)
Keywords: Slovakia; 2016; foreign policy; Western Balkans; Serbia; Croatia; EU enlargement;
Summary/Abstract: When looking at the Western Balkans of 2016, we can hardly find a more apt description of the events and relations of this southeastern region of the European continent than to say that it was a turbulent year. The development oscillated between hope and cautious optimism on the one hand, and descent into the depth of disruption, despair, and the growing threat of destabilization on the other. In 2016 we far too often witnessed abrupt changes, ranging from good news to depressing reports. One example of such developments were the events of spring 2016 in connection with relations between Serbia and Croatia, which at the time had exhibited a clearly upward trend that culminated at Subotica on June 20th. There, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, and President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, after friendly joint visits to Croatian Slavonia and Serbian Vojvodina, signed a declaration on enhancing their relations and solving the open issues between the two countries. Under point one of the declaration, the parties committed themselves to enhancing the bilateral protection of minorities – both the Serbian minority in Croatia and the Croatian minority in Serbia. Point two of the declaration stipulates an immediate start of negotiations in order to define the border line between Croatia and Serbia. Under point three, the two countries agreed to accelerate the implementation of an agreement on the post-Yugoslavian succession, signed in Vienna on June 29, 2001. And fourth, the parties declared that the search for missing persons after the war of the early 1990s is a priority humanitarian issue, and that the maximum effort will be made to determine their fate.

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