Abstract

Since the conclusion of the Dayton Agreement, the European Union (EU) has become increasingly engaged in stabilization politics for the Western Balkans by steadily enlarging its set of instruments. At the EU-Balkans summit in Thessaloniki (June 2003) perspective of membership was offered to these countries, and detailed priority programs for intensified cooperation will become effective within the framework of the so-called European partnerships. It had become obvious that the region itself cannot develop promising perspectives including the respective necessary policies. Therefore, strong support and guidance from outside is required. At the same time, the countries of the region must be reminded that without their own efforts and in particular the readiness for reasonable cooperation, no sustainable progress and no development perspective can be reached.

Franz-Lothar Altmann is director of the Research Section on Western Balkans at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) of Berlin.