EU Accession Negotiations and Strategic Approach to the Prosecution of War Crimes in the Western Balkans

Overloaded by the 1990s’ armed conflicts’ “ballast from the past” the Western Balkans states are still struggling to manage their EU Accession agendas, whose Chapter 23 “list of issues” includes, in addition to the standard judiciary, anticorruption and fundamental rights, also the challenge to address war crimes committed in 1990s. Despite visible differences in terms of the extent to which those countries have been affected by the armed conflicts as well as the gravity of their consequences, the European Commission keeps pushing for a strategic approach to the prosecution of war crimes, including enhancing the protection and support for war crime victims and clarifying the fate of persons went missing and/or disappeared in/or in connection to armed conflicts. However, the quality and comprehensiveness of such an approach varies to the great extent among the Western Balkans states, intensifying in the periods of intensive EU accession reform agenda, followed by periods of passivation after achieving some progress on EU part. This speaks itself to what extent EU accession processes can contribute to the transitional justice processes in Western Balkans.