Expert urges EU to offer Western Balkans path to Schengen — Balkan Insight
Christoph Bender, deputy chairman of the European Stability Initiative, called on the European Union to offer Western Balkan countries a roadmap for joining the Schengen Area. In his view, such a process could strengthen confidence in the EU’s enlargement policy, stimulate reforms and contribute to resolving border disputes in the region.
In an op-ed for Balkan Insight, Bender noted that the roadmap should include Schengen acquis requirements concerning external border controls, visa policy, the operation of the Schengen Information System, police cooperation and data protection. The author also proposes supplementing these criteria with rule-of-law requirements.
The security argument
Bender stressed that closer security cooperation between neighboring states can strengthen security rather than weaken it. He recalled that when the Schengen Area expanded from 15 to 24 countries in 2007, Germany’s then interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble spoke of stronger security.
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The author also argues that after Bulgaria and Romania fully joined Schengen in 2025, the argument that Western Balkan borders restrained the movement of irregular migrants and asylum seekers from Turkey and Greece to Central Europe lost weight. In his view, travelers using this route can reach Hungary and Austria from Greece via Bulgaria and Romania without leaving the Schengen Area.
Border disputes
According to Bender, the prospect of joining Schengen could help stabilize Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo, where Bosniaks, Serbs and Albanians live on different sides of borders. He believes that resolving the issue of the line between Serbia and Kosovo could become a condition for such a step.
Bender noted that Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are already part of the Schengen Area without being EU members. In his assessment, Western Balkan countries, surrounded by Schengen states, could join without creating new external borders of the area.
