In the EU’s waiting room: good neighborhood conditionallity for Kosovo and Serbia on their integration process

Session

Law

Description

The EU facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, popularly known as the Brussels negotiations, undoubtedly represents one of the most important contemporary political processes in the Western Balkans. First, it represents an attempt to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo and find a solution to a long-standing dispute over the status of Kosovo, which in itself represents probably one of the major territorial disputes in Europe today. Second, it aims to advance the European integration process of the Western Balkans by resolving disputes that have blocked this process for a significant amount of time and to allow Serbia and Kosovo to move forward with their European integration agendas. However, almost seven years since the dialogue officially started, a limited progress have been accomplished. In fact, the implementation of agreements reached in Brussels is the most problematic issue so far, which has characterized the whole process. This paper intends to address two main questions in this regard: is the dialogue helping Kosovo and Serbia in their European integration agendas; and is this process conditioned in one way or another by the legal instruments of EU? Moreover, by analyzing EU legal framework and accession instruments, this paper will provide with an explanation whether the Brussels dialogue is legally binding for both states aiming to become members of EU. In the end, the paper will conclude that conditionality is a tool which EU uses in regular basis to keep potential candidate states for accession on the right track of their EU integration process.

Keywords:

Kosovo, Serbia, dialogue, EU, implementation, conditionality, accession

Session Chair

Artana Tahiri

Session Co-Chair

Ramiz Fazliu

Proceedings Editor

Edmond Hajrizi

ISBN

978-9951-437-54-7

Location

Durres, Albania

Start Date

28-10-2017 11:00 AM

End Date

28-10-2017 12:30 AM

DOI

10.33107/ubt-ic.2017.227

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Oct 28th, 11:00 AM Oct 28th, 12:30 AM

In the EU’s waiting room: good neighborhood conditionallity for Kosovo and Serbia on their integration process

Durres, Albania

The EU facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, popularly known as the Brussels negotiations, undoubtedly represents one of the most important contemporary political processes in the Western Balkans. First, it represents an attempt to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo and find a solution to a long-standing dispute over the status of Kosovo, which in itself represents probably one of the major territorial disputes in Europe today. Second, it aims to advance the European integration process of the Western Balkans by resolving disputes that have blocked this process for a significant amount of time and to allow Serbia and Kosovo to move forward with their European integration agendas. However, almost seven years since the dialogue officially started, a limited progress have been accomplished. In fact, the implementation of agreements reached in Brussels is the most problematic issue so far, which has characterized the whole process. This paper intends to address two main questions in this regard: is the dialogue helping Kosovo and Serbia in their European integration agendas; and is this process conditioned in one way or another by the legal instruments of EU? Moreover, by analyzing EU legal framework and accession instruments, this paper will provide with an explanation whether the Brussels dialogue is legally binding for both states aiming to become members of EU. In the end, the paper will conclude that conditionality is a tool which EU uses in regular basis to keep potential candidate states for accession on the right track of their EU integration process.