The EU as a geopolitical power : the case of the Western Balkans region as the periphery to the core

Abstract

This article analyses the European Union’s ability to grow into a geopolitical power through the enlargement approach to its immediate neighbourhood, the western Balkans. The article explores how this approach – as deconstructed here in the pragmatic enlargement perceptions of EU member states, precisely of France and Germany –may affect both the future of the EU’s role in the world and the future of the of the western Balkans region. Using France and Germany’s approach to Albania and North Macedonia as case studies, the article examines whether the EU’s geopolitical approach aligns with that of some of its member states’ – Germany and France’s – view of the western Balkans. The rationale for this research lies in the never-ending decision of the European Council (2018-2020) to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia and its recent hesitation over starting an intergovernmental conference with them (2021). The article takes a new perspective on the EU’s geopolitical approach by deconstructing it into three elements – securitisation, foreign policy and strategy – contributing to the debate on the EU’s actorness’ enhancing its power and its contestation in the world. It argues that the EU’s role as a geopolitical power might be more threatened by the use of the veto power that the member states have over the European Council, transforming it into an arena for the expression of populism and nationalism, than by the presence of third powers in the region.