The Western Balkans in Focus: How the War in Ukraine Turns Enlargement into a Security-Centred Approach

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has reshaped European security, challenging regional stability and redefining the EU’s approach to enlargement as a tool of geopolitical resilience. The war has also brought political and geopolitical consequences for Europe, particularly in the Euro-Atlantic community, the EU and NATO, and the Western Balkans as a case study. This paper argues that, as Europe faces growing instability and geopolitical challenges, the Western Balkans find themselves in a paradoxical position within this evolving framework: simultaneously portrayed as the EU’s “unfinished business” and as a frontline test for the continent’s security and peace. However, the Western Balkans, beyond external challenges, face internal regional issues which continue to have sensitive and delicate problems rooted in the past, such as ethnic conflicts, the issue of the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, the lack of cooperation between regional states, economic instability, political crisis, and lack of trust in states. Thus, by examining the Western Balkans as a case study, the paper explores those issues and how the war in Ukraine reshapes the EU's approach, conditionality mechanisms, and regional alignments. Hence, this paper asks whether EU enlargement in the Western Balkans still functions as a project of regional