Regional Security Cooperation in the Western Balkans
Publisher: Institutite for Democracy “Societas Civilis”
Volume: 24 pages, pdf
Description:
The Euro-Atlantic perspective and regional cooperation can be listed as the key ingredients of stability in the Western Balkan countries. In fact, regional cooperation has not only tied together all Western Balkans under a shared purpose, but it has been the most essential tool of stabilization and association - a process that is effectively paving the way of EU integration for the six Western Balkan countries. Regional cooperation covers a wide range of sectors among which security cooperation is one of the top priorities. Manifested with many challenges, security cooperation between countries in the Western Balkan countries has been a project largely promoted by the EU, in particular some EU member countries taking keen interest in the region. The enhanced cooperation in the security sector is indeed driven by the overall EU objectives in the framework of the EU criteria on good neighbourly relations, but also on the resilience and preparedness of the region to respond to security challenges with serious implications for EU countries. A myriad of initiatives, some institutionalized with fully functioning secretariats and headquarters, and some limited on the level of projects, have been launched by or with the support of the EU. Project level cooperation schemes have been used as a successful tool for ensuring full inclusion of all Western Balkan countries, especially Kosovo due to the political obstacles caused by the two not-recognizing countries that is Serbia followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina.