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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 03/03
Russia, EU, U.S. and the Balkans: What Future?
December 2000
Abstract
Unlike what has happened with Central-eastern Europe and the Eastern Balkans, policies conducted by the West towards Western Balkans after the end of the Cold War have had a largely reactive character.
By and large, although the fragmentation of Yugoslavia had been widely feared and anticipated, developments in Western Balkans took the West aback because of their violent and uncompromising character. For this reason, with respect to this area the European countries and the United States have shown continuous hesitations and oscillations on how their interests in the area had to be understood, how much they had to feel involved and what they had to do.
So, they have just reacted to events, without coming to set out a coherent shared strategy. Only today, Western policy towards the area seems to have shaped out its basic orientations and begins to look more confidently in its chances or some success. The intervention in Kosovo and the civilian policies which are following up to the intervention, essentially managed by the Europeans, have put an end to the reactive character of Western policies. The West has recognised and accepted its entanglements and has given way to durable and structural policies in order to impress, once and forever, a systemic political turnabout to the region. In this sense, there is no doubt that the Western governments are now aware that they are there to stay and willing to do so. In principle, even if the U.S. will diminish its military engagement on the ground, the Europeans would be prepared to stay and intervening, if it need be, with their new force, alone or in combination with NATO. At the end of ten years of terrible events, by implementing peace-building and post-conflict rehabilitation the EU is conducting a strong inclusive policy towards the Balkans.
