Sucessive enlargements of european union And western balkans

Lopandić Duško (Ph.D., Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Serbia), dlopandic@yahoo.com

During the seven rounds of enlargement, the number of original members of the former European Coal and Steel Community (and the EEC) almost quintupled from six in 1957 to 27, that is, 28 in July 2013. This article considers the basic geopolitical circumstances of the successive enlargement of the European Union, especially its conditions, political motives and objectives. We will present the basic conditions and dynamics of the enlargement of the Union, which will gradually spread, to the Western Balkans in the next decade. In the essential sense, the processes of negotiations for membership or joining the EU on a long-term way change the structure of the candidate country, affect the stability of its political system, contribute to democratization, promote and modernize the economy and the state apparatus and the entire legal system. In this way, the effects of EU accession are multiple and generally very positive.

Keywords: EU enlargement, European Union, Western Balkans, democratization negotiation process