Rosa Balfour, Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, stressed the importance of maintaining a strong focus on people in the EU’s policy and strategy towards the Western Balkan region.

Balfour argued that conditions for EU membership have become more exacting and demanding, and that progress is monitored more closely nowadays than in previous enlargement rounds. She called on EU leaders to make sensible use of the ‘stick’ of enlargement and warned against over-politicising the enlargement process.

Corina Stratulat of the European Policy Centre said that despite the colossal efforts made in the past decade regarding democracy-building and democratic legitimacy, much more democratic transformation is still required in the Western Balkan region.

Status issues, border disputes, ethnic tensions and the legacy of war all take time to overcome and therefore slow down the process of democracy-building, said Stratulat, arguing that a lack of supply and demand for substantive democracy lies at the heart of the problem.

Corruption among the elites in these countries has a disempowering effect on citizens and the rule of law is not robust enough – this undermines democracy, and Western Balkan democracies are still not functioning properly, the EPC analyst said.

Axel Walldén, Head of the ‘Strategy and Policy Unit’ at DG Enlargement in the European Commission, described the situation in the Western Balkan region as very challenging in comparison to previous EU enlargement rounds, particularly given the impact of war on the region and major problems with the functioning of democracy, the rule of law, corruption and organised crime.

He warned of backtracking in some countries in some of these areas. Meanwhile bilateral disputes and ethnic tensions persist, representing major obstacles to the region’s further advancement towards the EU.

Walldén argued that enlargement fatigue is neither in the EU nor the Western Balkans’ interests and stressed the need to combat it. Accelerating reform in the region is the best way to counter scepticism in the EU, he further argued. He insisted that the EU had learned the lessons of previous enlargements by putting rule of law at the centre of the process and by monitoring freedom of expression more closely.

EU enlargement is all about the reform process and the journey rather than the final act of EU accession, while Croatia’s EU accession shows other countries that if Zagreb can do it, then they can too – even if it may take many years to achieve, said Goran Svilanović, Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council.

He argued that the best thing the European External Action Service (EEAS) has done since its creation is facilitate dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, adding that the two biggest outstanding issues in the region are Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Macedonia name issue.

Svilanović argued that the time has come to switch the focus in the region from peace and stability to the economy. The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is working on the South-East Europe 2020 Strategy, which he described as a job-creating strategy primarily focused on boosting economic growth and nurturing human capital, as well as on fighting corruption.

He concluded by advising Western Balkan governments to start practising now what is waiting for them behind the EU door, for example the European Semester.

Ambassador Vladimir Drobnjak, Permanent Representative of Croatia to the EU, insisted that although it is impossible to imagine such an upbeat summit as the 2003 Thessaloniki gathering in today’s political climate, one should nevertheless not be too pessimistic about the enlargement process. It is very difficult but it is also very rewarding, he insisted.

The Croatian ambassador warned aspiring EU members not to underestimate the importance of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement or the European Commission’s Annual Progress Reports for the EU accession process. He said member states read those reports very closely and that their content plays a role in determining when candidate status will be granted.

Drobnjak admitted that there is enlargement fatigue but pointed out that it had not impeded Croatia’s accession. He argued that there is room for optimism regarding the Western Balkans and that Croatia will play a crucial and pivotal role.