DEVELOPMENT OF SERBIA’S RELATIONS WITH NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES THAT ARE EU MEMBERS: ONE OF THE DETERMINANTS IN THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

ARNAUDOV Mitko (Institut za međunarodnu politiku i privredu, Beograd), mitko@diplomacy.bg.ac.rs
HADŽIĆ Nikola (Fakultet političkih nauka, Beograd), nikolahadzic@yahoo.com.

The integration of the Republic of Serbia into the ЕU is a process that requires, in addition to numerous and comprehensive institutional reforms, the creation and development of stable and sustainable regional relations, especially with the EU member states in its immediate environment. Given that improving regional cooperation is one of the most important criteria for joining the EU, the paper pays special attention to the development of Serbia’s bilateral relations with neighbouring countries, especially Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania, which are also members of this supranational organisation. Applying the comparative method of analysis, the authors tried to shed light not only on the achieved results but also on the current problems between the neighbouring countries of the Western Balkans and to provide a realistic picture of the possibilities of overcoming them in order to intensify the process of European integration of candidate countries for admission to the EU.

Keywords: Serbia, Western Balkans, EU, regional cooperation, European integration