New Eastern Europe Magazine Sept-Oct 2023 Back Issue

The ongoing war in Ukraine has brought the debate over the future of Europe back to the region of the Western Balkans, which not that long ago also experienced the brutality of war, mass murder, and hatred, resulting in ethnic cleansing as well as physical devastation and long-term trauma and divisions. Indeed, the Balkan wars, waged in the 1990s between the nations of a once federal state, are a cruel reminder of the dangers of uncontrolled ethnic nationalism and what weapon it can become in the hands of narcissistic leaders. The lands of Europe have seen the consequences of such emotions too many times.

The establishment of the European Community, first, and later the European Union, was meant to ensure that such violence would never come back. In this way, the experience of Western Balkans and the struggle of its states to integrate with the EU is the story of Europe which – at the same time is haunted by its often brutal past, and – through establishing connections with others – frees itself from it. So why, some would ask, are the states in the region still in the waiting room of the spacious European house? Why have they been there for such a long time and does the war in Ukraine have any effect on their European path?