FACTBOX-Balkan states hope to follow Croatia into EU

June 29, 2013|Reuters

ZAGREB, June 30 (Reuters) - Croatia becomes the European
Union's 28th member on Monday, the second ex-Yugoslav republic
to join the bloc after Slovenia.

Six other countries of the Western Balkans, with a joint
population of almost 19 million, are unlikely to join the bloc
before the end this decade, as the fallout from Yugoslavia's
violent collapse in the 1990s as well as corruption and sluggish
economic growth continue to slow their progress.

Following are summaries of each country's prospects:


Hardline communism under dictator Enver Hoxha collapsed in
Albania in 1991, and the country of 3 million people joined NATO
in 2009. Progress towards EU membership has been dogged by
concerns over democracy, organised crime and corruption.

Albania applied for EU candidate status in April 2009 but
has twice been turned down, though it was granted visa-free
travel to countries in the EU's so-called Schengen zone in 2010.
Brussels has cited shortcomings in the functioning of democratic
institutions such as the parliament and judiciary.


Bosnia has yet to apply for EU membership. Since its 1992-95
war, the 3.8 million-strong country has been split into two
autonomous regions, overseen by an international envoy and a
loose and weak central government.

Bosnia's progress remains hamstrung by rivalry between its
Serb, Croat and Muslim communities, whose political leaders have
failed to implement constitutional reforms mandated by the
European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.

Visa-free travel to the Schengen zone began in 2010 but
reforms remain stymied up by the political impasse.


Europe's youngest country with a population of 1.8 million
ultimately hopes to join the EU. It declared independence from
Serbia in 2008 and has so far been recognised by 100 countries.
However, only 22 of the EU's 27 members have recognised it.

It continues to be patrolled by NATO peacekeepers and, since
2008, by an EU police and justice mission, more than a decade
after NATO bombed Serbia and took control of Kosovo.

Organised crime, endemic corruption and continued tensions
between the Albanian majority and Serb minority have deterred
investors and held back development.

Kosovo's parliament this month ratified a landmark
EU-brokered agreement in which Serbia ceded de facto control
over predominantly Serb-populated northern Kosovo, in exchange
for progress towards accession talks. Brussels has recommended
opening talks for a stability and association agreement, the
first step towards membership.


Macedonia is a candidate for membership of both NATO and the
EU but progress has been hostage to a long-running dispute with
its southern neighbour Greece. Athens objects to its use of the
name "Macedonia", saying it implies territorial ambitions
towards Greece's northern province of the same name.

The Macedonian government meanwhile has begun pursuing an
overtly nationalist agenda which diplomats say has further
antagonised Greece and the EU.


The EU granted the Adriatic country of 700,000 people
candidate status in 2010 and opened accession talks last year.
Montenegro closed the second negotiating chapter in April but
issues such as the judiciary and corruption have yet to be

Brussels has stressed Podgorica must do more to clamp down
on organised crime and corruption. Montenegro, which dissolved
its state union with Serbia in 2006, unilaterally adopted the
euro as its official currency in 2002.


The biggest market in the Western Balkans with a population
of 7.3 million is due to start EU membership talks by January.

Serbia unblocked its EU integration in April, when its
socialist-nationalist government signed an EU-brokered deal with
Kosovo, agreeing to cede the control over northern Kosovo that
it had retained even after its former province declared
independence in 2008.

Brussels has said recognition of Kosovo is not a
precondition for membership but stressed the two countries must
normalise relations.

(Reporting by Zoran Radosavljevic; Editing by Raissa