UNRESOLVED BILATERAL ISSUES BETWEEN MEMBER AND CANDIDATE STATES IN THE PROCESS OF ACCESSION TO THE EU

This paper aims to explore blocking of a country's accession to the EU by a member state which has unresolved bilateral issues with the same country. That kind of the member state's behaviour could easily be understood as an abuse of its privileged position, as well as a violation of its duty of sincere cooperation. Conversely, it can also represent an act of protection of the Union's fundamental values in the case in which a candidate country clearly does not respect those values. The final word in this sense should have the CJEU. Consequently, this paper will explore the relationship between Croatia as a member state and Serbia as a candidate country in terms of Serbia's lack of cooperation regarding the resolution of the issue of missing and deceased persons during the Croatian War of Independence.