The process of institutionalization of the EU's CFSP in the Western Balkan countries during the Ukraine crisis

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.