The EU’s Enlargement Strategy at a Crossroads? Redirecting the Debate Toward Acquisition-based Integrative Models

There have been many recurring initiatives for an alternative EU-oriented enlargement process that could provide the Western Balkan region with a credible EU perspective. Several models have been developed conceptually and discussed in a variety of academic, policy and political spheres as potential replacements for the conventional EU model employed in the previous expansion waves. The majority of the proposed alternative models for EU accession of the Western Balkans are non-invasive in nature and essentially align with the one used in the past enlargement waves. Each new proposal adds a differentiated value to the current model, and typically highlights the significance of candidate states’ reform agendas based on the Copenhagen criteria, but with some flexible, specifically targeted, and/or phased approaches to the accession process designed to eliminate the ever-intensifying “integrational fatigue”. This essay intends to purposefully “radicalize” the ongoing discussions on the Western Balkans’ weariness towards the current EU’s enlargement policy by offering a new approach to the normative reconceptualization of the entire process. The model advocated in this essay proposes a “merger and acquisition” (M&A) design as a substitute for the so-called “accreditation-based” integration methodology the EU is presently using in its current enlargement strategy. The proposed model fundamentally questions the democratic essence of the approach that drives the ongoing EU enlargement procedures, reshapes the existing debates on alternative methodologies, and questions some of their fundamental ontological dimensions.