Western Balkans on the Way to the European Union

Article analyses selected aspects of the integration process of the Western Balkans into the European Union. First part deals with advantages that bring an integration process for the EU as well as for the new member states in context of further enlargement. Further this work identifies the Western Balkan region and describes the genesis of the concept of the Western Balkans, which is an artificially created name for group of countries in the south-eastern Europe. Definition of the region is not subject to geographical but political description, whereas its creation is closely linked to the European Union. Further this article deals with current position of the Western Balkan countries in the integration process, whereby the author focuses on the main issues of individual countries in relation with the Union. In the last part the article identifies the main socio-economic problems of the region that restrain their faster development and integration into EU. The article is concluded by summarizing the pros and cons of the further EU enlargement by Western Balkan countries.