EU enlargement in the Western Balkans: Strategies of borrowing and inventing

Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies

Volumn 10, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 293-307

  Elbasani, Arolda ^a  

^a FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77649133050     PISSN: 19448953     EISSN: 19448961     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14613190802493600     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. The Balkans is a geo-political concept comprising the political units that compound the Balkan Peninsula. Although it refers to a precise geographical area, it often connotes different sub-regions. South East Europe (SEE) instead refers to a political grouping usually including seven Balkan countries-Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro-although it might occasionally include other countries. The same applies to the Western Balkans, which refers to a sub-region of the Balkans, including all SEE countries except for Bulgaria and Romania. The Western Balkans grouping is distinguished as a separate region in terms of European integration-the countries share a common perspective and framework of European integration.
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58. In the initial proposal they were referred to as European Integration Partnerships, but reference to integration was dropped in the final proposal. Modelled on the Accession Partnerships developed to prepare past aspirants for EU membership, the European partnerships were heralded as a milestone in the EU relations with the Balkans, but the difference in the qualifying adjectives suggests that the emphasis is on 'partnership' rather than 'accession'.
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