A More Flexible Europe Could Be Good News for the Western Balkans

Note from the Author: As a Canadian researcher focused on the European Union and an advocate for the accession of the Western Balkans, I have a somewhat unusual perspective on the EU's growing relationship with Canada. I am excited to see Canada moving closer to Europe. For me, the prospect of a deeper Canadian European relationship represents an opportunity to strengthen the ties between two places that I care deeply about. But alongside my excitement for Canada, I cannot help but think about the Western Balkans, a region whose European future I have spent years advocating for.

Image: Sean Kilpatrick/empics/picture alliance

The European Union has spent decades building a strict and structured path towards accession. Yet its emerging relationship with Canada could signal something new path forward: an EU increasingly willing to think beyond the traditional boundaries of membership and partnership.

On 16 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed that Canada become the first “associate member” of the EU. While the concept has not been properly outlined and its parameters do not currently exist in the EU treaties, it highlights an important shift in thinking. Rather than viewing European membership as black and white, the proposal opens the possibility of different tiers of membership in the European Union.

For the Western Balkans, this could mark a positive step forward.

The six Western Balkan countries have spent decades working towards a European future, with some formally beginning this journey more than 20 years ago. Throughout this process, the EU has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to the region’s European path, with European leaders making clear that the Western Balkans belong in the Union. The EU’s Growth Plan is already helping bring the region closer to the Single Market ahead of accession, expanding access to areas such as payments, energy, digital services and labour mobility.

Canada's proposed associate membership could take this principle of specialized integration a step further. It demonstrates that the EU is capable of creating new relationships when current criteria under Article 49 do not adequately reflect political circumstances. For the Western Balkans, this offers an opportunity to reconsider how the accession process can work for countries with very different institutional, political and constitutional realities.

This does not mean replacing enlargement with a new form of associate membership. The Western Balkans have a European perspective and should continue to have a credible pathway towards full membership. Instead, the Canadian example could encourage the EU to become more creative about how countries can participate in European structures while they work towards that goal.

This idea is particularly valuable for Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their relationships with the EU are shaped by very different questions of statehood, sovereignty and institutional structure, making a uniform accession model difficult to apply. Greater flexibility could allow the EU to deepen integration where progress is possible, while continuing to address the political questions that stand between these countries and full membership.

There is reason for optimism. The EU is already demonstrating that integration does not have to be an all-or-nothing process. The Growth Plan, the gradual opening of the Single Market and the proposed Canadian relationship all point towards a Union increasingly comfortable with differentiated forms of cooperation.

Rather than seeing Canada's proposed ‘associate membership’ as competition for the Western Balkans, it should be viewed as a precedent. The opportunity now is to apply that same creativity closer to home.

If the European Union can rethink what it means to be closely integrated with Canada, it can also continue rethinking how it brings the Western Balkans closer to Europe. The goal does not need to change. The future of the Western Balkans in the European Union remains the destination; the opportunity is to make the process more versatile, and fast track the connection to the Union that these countries are on the journey to become a part of.