Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.1515/cirr-2015-0003
The Process of Institutionalization of the EU’s CFSP in the Western Balkan Countries during the Ukraine Crisis
Dragan Đukanović
; Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade
Abstract
This paper analyses the Western Balkan countries’ relationship towards the instrument of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union in the context of the measures undertaken by
Brussels against the Russian Federation due to its involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. In this regard, the author first points out to what extent the countries of the Western Balkans over the past few
years, that is, after the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, harmonized their foreign policies with the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union. Certainly, the
most important foreign policy challenges for the Western Balkan countries in 2014 are imposing sanctions against the Russian Federation.
Some Western Balkan countries (above all, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia), according to the author’s assessment, are stretched between their intentions to join the EU and thus
harmonize their foreign policy with the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union on one hand, and on the other, to avoid disruption of existing relations with the Russian Federation.
Keywords
European Union; Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP); Western Balkans; Ukraine; Russian Federation; foreign policy
Hrčak ID:
135019
URI
Publication date:
20.2.2015.
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