Samuli Sinisalo & Aleksandar Spasov: Finnish EU Precidency and the Enlargement in the Western Balkans

The six Western Balkan countries have aspired to become EU members for about 25 years, but the work has not been completed. A realistic accession path must be laid out for each of the WB countries, Samuli Sinisalo and Aleksandar Spasov write in their report.

In the paper Samuli Sinisalo and Aleksandar Spasov look at the general history of the Western Balkan region and its integration process with the EU. Each Western Balkan country (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia) are looked at individually, covering basic facts of the countries and their specific situation in the EU integration process. Special focus is on Macedonia, as it is currently the prime example of delivering political reforms domestically, which demands reciprocity from the EU side. The paper also looks at some policy possibilities and recommendations that Finland could and should do as the rotating president of the EU Council in 2019.

Read the paper here (pdf)