External Informal Differentiation and EU cooperation with the Western Balkans

This article examines the occurrence of informal processes in EU cooperation with the Western Balkan countries. Over time, the EU cooperation with these countries has been structured upon the EU enlargement policy framework. Based on such framework, the EU developed patterns of external differentiated cooperation, aimed at transferring EU acquis and policies to actual and potential candidates for EU accession. Recent crises have, however, put to test EU cooperation with the Western Balkans. Based on the EU enlargement policy formal institutional arrangements, EU member states and institutions have developed a series of regulatory and organisational informal mechanisms aimed at involving these countries in the management of EU policies. This article assesses the implications emergence of informal patterns of external cooperation in the Western Balkans in relation to two main crises that have affected the EU in recent years: the 2007-2013 economic crisis; and the 2015-2016 migration ‘crisis’.