Neither neighbours nor members. The western Balkans "peripherisation" through the EU membership process

This paper aims to study the ambiguous relationship between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans which are waiting for their accession. Indeed, despite the precise agenda defined by EU for the integration of this region, the process is delayed by the notion of "integration capacity", recently asserted in Brussels. The delayed membership perspective and, in the same time, the increasing EU's political intervention in various internal policies implemented by these states tends to reinforce their "EU periphery status".