Factors Framing and Driving EU Integration in the Western Balkans

Abstract

What frames and drives European Union (EU) integration in the Western Balkans? The aim of this panel is to discuss factors framing and facilitating EU accession process in the region. It asks how political, societal, national/cultural identity and media factors have affected the Western Balkan states’ path towards their EU membership. Each analysis collected by the panel focuses on different factor or factors. One paper takes our attention to societal willingness and political will as factors framing EU integration, with Albania as the case study. Having had a profound impact on the country’s path toward the EU, the paper aims to explain how the Albanian society and political parties have interpreted EU membership benefits and represented this in the national debate. Another paper focuses on trust and national/cultural identity. By analyzing their impacts on public opinion in Serbia and also in Ukraine from Eastern Europe, and during the time of crises they faced domestically and geopolitically, the author’s ongoing investigation expects that citizens with low domestic trust can prefer higher integration with the EU while strong national/cultural identity may have negative influence on public preference. And, it also argues that the degree of their effects on citizens’ opinions can vary from one country to antoher based upon the purpose, focus, intensity and/or method of their EU integration. In framing of EU integration in the Western Balkans, one other paper touches upon the importance of media discourse. By comparing Montenegro and Serbia, the author has concluded that domestic media has both positive and negative frames for EU integration. While it has strengthened public support in Montenegro, despite the high domestic political conditions of the country, it has had negative influence on public opinion in Serbia, despite having been the largest beneficiary of the EU’s financial aids in the region. On the other hand, two papers focus on factors that can facilitate EU integration in candidate states in the Western Balkans. One touches upon the role of efficient administration. With the findings from Croatia’s experience, the only EU member state in the region, which has faced regional inequalities caused by administrative bottlenecks, the author stresses the importance of effective administration for the candidate states in fostering and managing EU integration in the region. Whereas the other paper points out the impact of, EU-led, regional initiatives, e.g., the EUSAIR (EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region). Focusing on Albania and Montenegro as the case studies, the author inquires whether a membership to the EUSAIR can facilitate their Europeanization process, beside asking whether this regional initiative can serve as a driving factor for a functional integration in the Western Balkans and how. To sum up, the panel with these inputs and discussions seeks to not only inform us about those factors framing and facilitating EU integration process in the Western Balkan states but also close the gaps in the literature on EU integration and Europeanization.

Title	Details
The Last True Believer? Albania’s Political and Discursive Commitment to the EU	View Paper Details
Preference Formation on EU Integration in Candidate Countries: the Cases of Ukraine and Serbia	View Paper Details
A Rhetorical Perspective on Media and Societal Europeanization: Framing of European Integration in Montenegro and Serbia	View Paper Details
Assessing EUSAIR as a Driver of Functional Integration in the Western Balkans	View Paper Details
Regional Inequalities in Croatia 2003-2023: a Quantitative Analysis Using Neoclassical and New Economic Geography Approaches	View Paper Details