EU integration is viewed as the way to lock the neighboring countries into security, democracy and economic development. However, bringing the next enlargement seems to be a greater challenge than even before. In order to improve the level of participation of civil society organizations in the policy-making processes and to improve the dialogue between civil society and the government in the accession countries, the European Union set up the 'Civil Society Facility' in the Instrument for Pre-Accession II assistance 2014-2020. This mechanism demonstrates that the EU highlights the importance of civil society in democratization process in EU integration. However, the question is whether all support that the organizations from the Western Balkans receive causes them to have impact on democratization processes in their countries.
The purpose of this paper has been to present under-researched EU democracy promotion efforts through newly established CSF initiative within the enlargement policy. The paper is based on the fieldwork in three Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Although democracy promotion via civil society showed an ambivalent picture (e.g. Beichelt et al. 2014; Mendelson and Glenn 2002, Henderson 2002, Ishkanian 2007), the paper shows that organizations perform their roles of watchdogs, intermediaries between the society and the government, as well as diffusers of democratic ideas and practices in the Western Balkan region, thus increasing possibility for further consolidation of democracy and strengthening peace and stability in the region, which might not be possible without the EU support for civil society organizations within the enlargement policy.
