International Conference: Current Security Challenges for the Western Balkan Region Addressed by Means of Joint Responsibility and Cooperation THE CURRENT APPROACH Perhaps the best way to explain the EU Europe Policy Advisory Group, 6). This so­involvement in the region is by relying on the called regatta approach to the European metaphor of the doctor and the patient. In that enlargement is a system that encourages context, the right question to ask is candidate states to compete with each other in a race where the lucky winner becomes a full­whether the recommended treatment helped or edged member of the EU. It was partly the patient was treated with the wrong cocktail designed for its convenience and thus far it has of medications. Thus far we can identify two worked only in case of Croatia. types of treatment, one perhaps more geared towards dealing with the question of national The pressure to succeed is completely put on integration, and is related to direct political the candidate states, while the EU bureaucrats pressures on the states to change their emerge solely in the role of an arbiter or an behaviour in accordance to the European umpire whose job is to make sure that the integration model. In order to deal with these players follow the rules of the game. In that role, challenges, particularly in situation of conict individual countries can prove to be better at the between the policies designed to address game from their neighbours, but it is the national grievances and those fostering certain prerogative of an umpire to change or add new 94 European standards of behavior, the international community initially opted for the rules to the existing ones. Thus the number of hurdles to jump over in the accession talks so-called“bureaucratic meddling”(Chandler, constantly grew in the past few years(Greece 2004) into local actors' affairs against the needed to fulll the requirements that were “nationality” principle. Eventually, these types of divided into nine chapters; nowadays, the bureaucratic meddling had the exact opposite candidates will have to respond to the myriad effect instead of the intended one, for the EU's requests divided into 35 chapters). Imagine an direct intrusions into states' local affairs has athlete starting 110 metres hurdles race only to undermined the very rationale of the EU realize at the end of the race that this is in fact involvement in the region – democracy building. 400 metres hurdles race! Yet another reason for Lately, however, we are witnessing the this approach is that it allows the EU ofcials, in revamping of this model, and it is fair to ask the the climate of rising scepticism towards further question why we think that this time the enlargement in the EU countries, to keep the approach might yield better results. promise of membership alive while constantly shifting the target for some better time in the The other approach is future. functionalist/administrative in its character and is linked to encouraging the reforms in the Nowadays, in the context of Serbia, we are political, social and economic sectors. Thus, in witnessing a certain fusion between the two the past ten years, the EU's policy of direct logics, for Serbia's progress in talks with interference was accompanied by a case-by­Kosovo will be evaluated as part of the chapter case approach to European enlargement of the 35. Thus, what is usually a less important remaining Western Balkan states(Balkans in chapter in bilateral negotiations between the candidate state and the EU that deal with the so-