The next enlargement round – the Balkan challenge

The present study highlights and discusses the issues that could potentially undermine the European prospects of South Eastern Europe. It argues that the latent threats emanate not only from the region itself but also from the EU. On the EU’s side the inability to speak in one voice and the ambiguous nature of conditionality policy hide the greatest risks to the enlargement process, which might weaken the credibility of the promise of EU integration. In the region, unfinished statehood issues, problems related to the rule of law and the potential social consequences of the current economic crisis represent the most serious dangers. Altogether, this study aims to draw attention to those problems, which are likely to be on the Hungarian presidency’s Balkan agenda. While presenting the potential challenges the presidency will face in 2011 concerning the Western Balkan region, the paper also offers some tentative recommendations on how to address them.