As the European External Action Service (EEAS) celebrates a decade of existence, there is understandable fanfare about the evolution of its structures and capabilities. For those eager to see the EU strengthen its presence on the global stage, it is an unquestionable success; a service through which the EU’s common approach to foreign, security, and defence policy can be pursued, with delegations across the globe and to various multilateral bodies.
Yet it is closer to home where this fledgling actor continues to face its most profound challenges. The Western Balkans has long been a key test for the proclaimed effectivity of EU foreign and security policy, especially given the painful and costly mistakes of the nineties. Considerable resources have been invested, including political capital, to demonstrate the EU’s transformative potential in a region where membership of the Union was once deemed almost inevitable.
The Western Balkans has long been a key test for the proclaimed effectivity of EU foreign and security policy, especially given the painful and costly mistakes of the nineties.
Indeed, the issue of Kosovo-Serbia relations provided the EEAS with one of its early triumphs; Baroness Ashton having spearheaded negotiations that led to the landmark 2013 Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina. It was a breakthrough moment after the 2011 barricades in north Kosovo that brought Kosovo Serbs face-to-face with Nato’s Kosovo Force (KFor); a breakthrough that set Serbia and Kosovo on a tangible path towards the normalisation of relations after the latter’s unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008.
