Grassroots European solidarity. Italian solidarity movements in the Western Balkans in the 1990s and 2020s and their visions of Europe

This article investigates how the idea of European solidarity and the vision of Europe changed over time amongst Italian groups and individuals engaged in solidarity actions in support of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in the Western Balkans in the 1990s and 2020s. By means of document analysis and in-depth qualitative interviews, it shows that individuals partaking in solidarity initiatives framed their action as European grassroots solidarity, enacted to replace the institutional solidarity that the EU failed to offer to the Western Balkans. While solidarity groups in the 1990s were informed by an idea of Europe imbued with hope and trust in the role of the would-be EU and the process of EU integration, those mobilising in the 2020s expressed a more critical and disenchanted vision informed by rage, disillusionment, and disappointment towards an EU perceived as having betrayed its ideal foundations while dealing with migration on the Balkan route.