Security Challenges in Balkans

SECURITY CHALLENGES IN WESTERN BALKANS

Situated in the south-eastern part of Europe, the Western Balkan region continues to represent a significant geopolitical area, in permanent transformation, placed at the crossroads of different cultures and ethnicities, constantly influenced by local interests and those of main international actors (US, EU, Russia, China, Turkey).

After the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, the interests of these actors in the region became more visible, these states acting in order to promote their goals and consolidate their influence in the region.

Taking into consideration the interests of the West and Russia in the Western Balkans, it must be stated that two main events have reshaped the relation between western powers and the ''Russian bear'' - the crisis in Kosovo, followed by the military operations of NATO against Serbia in 1999.

While Russia is constantly acting to limit the US and EU influence in the region, western powers act to limit the foreign Russian profile in the area and to diminish/eliminate the interethnic diferenda and encourage the promotion of democratic values and consolidate the regional security and stability,  using as incentive the European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

In terms of EU enlargement, the European perspective of the Western Balkan states seems to be uncertain and far away, mainly because of the "enlargement fatigue" manifested in the last years (main factors - difficulties in the process of deepening the EU institutional integration and the rise of the euroscepticism and nationalism in many EU member states).

The situation is further complicated by the limited progress made by the states in the region on their way to respect and achieve the criteria imposed by Brussels on their way to EU (e.g. political and economical reforms, regional reconciliation and solutions to regional conflicts; Croatia is already a member, but the others - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina/BiH, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia - are in different stages of the integration process, many of them still unable to surpass different obstacles).

Taking all these aspects into consideration, it is worth mentioning that the delay of the EU enlargement process in the region (complicated by a very difficult socio-economic landscape) might raise the interests of some of these states towards alternative forms to the European integration (e.g. cooperation with Russia, China).

This complicated regional landscape can be further weakened by other several vulnerabilities, present in the region after Yugoslavia's disintegration and difficult to be overcame on short and medium term:
A) the ethnic factor - one of the main triggers of  Yugoslavia's disintegration, which continues to influence the evolutions in the region and to delay the process of finding and applying solutions to the stagnant bilateral conflicts, in spite of some progress (e.g. the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which started in 2011, under EU mediation, enforced by the Brussels agreement/2013, which aimes to find a proper solution to peacefully integrate the northern Kosovo Serbs under Pristina's authority, by offering them an extended form of autonomy).