Brexit phenomena and the EU candidates from the Western Balkans: Opportunity for accelerated integration, typical status quo or long-term expectations

Arnaudov, Mitko (2016) Brexit phenomena and the EU candidates from the Western Balkans: Opportunity for accelerated integration, typical status quo or long-term expectations. The Review of International Affairs, 67 (1164). pp. 125-139. ISSN 0486-6096

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Abstract

Great Britain’s influence in the process of European integration of the Western Balkans is very notable, but it is not crucial. Although the Foreign Office of Great Britain is working toward further horizontal integration of the European Union, this country does not have any vital interest in the eventual accelerated integration of Western Balkan candidates. The main point of this article is the role of Great Britain in the process of accession of Western Balkan candidates (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo*2 and Serbia)3. The aim of this article is an attempt to analyze the influence of referendum in Great Britain and its potential exit from the EU on the process of Western Balkans integration. Through consideration of the regional and internal challenges among Western Balkans candidates, the goal is to answer whether actual stagnation of mentioned candidates is due to local disputes or because of the causes within the EU. In addition, in this article, the author will put emphasis on the role of other member states of the EU, which are also focused on the process of Western Balkans integration. The results of the referendum in the United Kingdom have been highly rated in the local media and within the circles of political elites from the Balkans, but from the realistic point of view, such results will not have any dominant influence in the process of accelerating or slowing the integration of the Western Balkans within the EU. The essential aim of the article is to prove that structural problems within the EU and referendum in Great Britain should not be an additional barrier on the European path of the Western Balkans. The future of European integration of Western Balkan candidates still depends on the dynamic of reforms and concrete measures on the internal and regional level in accordance with the policy of the EU.

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