International Conference: Current Security Challenges for the Western Balkan Region Addressed by Means of Joint Responsibility and Cooperation and endemic corruption at the systemic level, gain certain“favours/accommodations” from on the other. Any inability on their part to show Serbia, Macedonia and other candidate states. progress either on the domestic front or in talks This is nothing new for both Slovenia and with the EU will, I am afraid, increase the Greece have already exercised their respective attractiveness of emerging alternatives in the veto powers over Croatia and Macedonia. region. After all, the public disenchantment with Second, neither the EU public opinion nor the the European Union is not just a prerogative of current economic situation in the Union works the EU member states but also of the EU towards such a scenario. Third, Kosovo's candidate states. In addition, public opinion problem is not only its non-recognition by polls across the region have already shown that Serbia, but also by ve EU member states. the love affair with the European Union is long Finally, rather than speeding up the process of gone. At least, in the past, the European Union reforms in the region, it will slow them down in was able to be more direct in its requests. If countries that already achieved ofcial candidate local leaders(and population) are not yet status for accession to the EU(Albania, democratic, they will become so through the Montenegro, Serbia), for their progress will have gubernatorial decrees of the UN/EU to be realigned with the progress of the so­representatives in Bosnia and Kosovo in the called problem states such as Kosovo, 96 early stages of the game, or through the 110/400 meters hurdles race, as is currently the Macedonia and Bosnia. More so, under the current European conditions of stalled growth, case. However, I am doubtful that this unresolved nancial crisis, enlargement fatigue, Rousseauldian solution of forcing someone to attack on multiculturalism and the rise of become free by enforcing upon them the“right” European far right, one wonders how much democratic choices can work on its own. So, enthusiasm is left in the European Union for a what are the alternatives to the current EU more coherent regional approach to the Western approach? Balkans that is capable of addressing the remaining persistent twin issues of stalled The apparently most favourite scenario is what political reforms and regional integration. The Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group calls question is even more pressing in light of the the Balkans big bang(May 2014). According to current Ukrainian crisis that has almost by this model, the EU should accelerate the default pushed the Western Balkan question at accession process in the Western Balkan states the European backburner. I am afraid, or at least, by imitating a 2004 EU enlargement scenario. I cannot think of any, constructive alternative to Despite its obvious appeal, this approach is the big bang scenario. deeply unrealistic and borderline impossible for the myriad of reasons. First, each and every EU A far more realistic scenario is a EU's simulation member state has a veto power over the nal of a Big Bang model. In light of an ongoing decision as to who is in and who is out of the Ukrainian crisis the EU and major European EU. Thus, we should not underestimate the states simply don't have luxury any more fully to negative“blackmailing” bilateral capacity of abandon the process of enlargement in the some EU members bordering the region Western Balkans. But let us not be naïve and (Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece) in order to expect the repeat of the Thessaloniki summit in