The Spanish position towards enlargement to the Balkans has been influenced by its historical relations with the region, as well as by domestic considerations, with political movements in Catalonia and the Basque Country as first priorities on the agenda.
Relations between Spain and the Western Balkan countries are very recent. Historically, International Brigadistas from Yugoslavia were present during the Civil War and some Spanish politicians made shy attempts to follow the Yugoslav model of non-alignment. However, in reality, Spain’s links to the Balkans date back to the beginning of the 1990s, on the eve of the dissolution of Yugoslavia. In addition, trade or other economic exchanges have been merely symbolical between the two sides.
As a plurinational state, Spain has always defended the existence of countries with similar features. This was also the case for Yugoslavia. In 1991, Francisco Fernández-Ordoñez, the then Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, proposed to the Foreign Affairs Council that the only way to stop the dissolution of the country was to impulse a fast-track recognition and enlargement procedure to the whole of Yugoslavia220. As such, Spain adopted a strong position towards the historical events in Yugoslavia,
which came to define its stance on the enlargement policy of the European Union.
However, when Minister Fernández-Ordoñez arrived in Brussels for the European Council, Germany had already recognised Slovenia and Croatia221 against the United Nations criteria, as well as against
the positions of France, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal. These recognitions, together with the tough negotiations that were held by the Chancellor Helmut Kohl, eventually persuaded the member states to accept the recognition of Slovenia and Croatia. With this manoeuvre, Germany stepped into its leading position in Europe, which it has held ever since222.
Following this pre-emptive stance, Spain confined itself to reactive attitudes towards developments in the Balkans, including the adoption of ‘red lines’ in response to secessionist movements in the region. It followed the path that was marked by the European Union, including the Association and Stabilisation Process. During the Bosnia war, Spain actively participated in peacekeeping operations223,
especially in the Mostar region. Furthermore, in 1999, the Aznar governments joined the international alliance to bomb Serbia under the NATO umbrella, with Javier Solana as Secretary General. This important presence in the field, along with traditional sympathy by the people in the Balkans towards Spain (related to the Civil War and Spain’s image as a neutral actor), has shaped a positive perception of the country in the region. This goes some way towards explaining, for instance, the appointment of Carlos Westendorp as High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina or, later, of Felipe González as Personal Representative of the Chairman in Office for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Overall, however, the Spanish foreign policy towards the Balkans has been one of great support for Serbia as the ‘core’ of Yugoslavia. This has been demonstrated by the attitude of different Spanish foreign affairs ministers, irrespective of their political affiliation. In this regard, Josep Pique and Miguel Angel Moratinos have arguably been the most active foreign affairs ministers in the region. The former tried to stimulate trade and investment relations between Spain and the former Yugoslavia (Serbia and
220 “Fernández-Ordóñez espera que los doce reconozcan juntos a los nuevos estados”, El País, 8 October 1991. 221 Germany recognised Croatia and Slovenia on 23 December 1990.
222 Kinzer, Stephen, “Slovenia and Croatia get Bonn’s nod”, The New York Times, 24 December 1991.
223 More than 8,000 soldiers participated in the United Nations mission in Bosnia. In 10 years, more than 22,000 were
Montenegro, at that time), while the latter sought to reinforce the regional dialogue and cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo.
This explicit support towards the former Yugoslavia and, later, towards Serbia (after Montenegro’s independence in 2005 and Kosovo’s secession in 2008), has continued over the years and has influenced the Spanish policy towards EU enlargement. This means that Spain is unlikely to accept that Serbia enters the EU after Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The main reason is, again, political coherence in a double sense. Firstly, after the Iraq war, Spain became the main defender of international law. Secondly, Spanish government rejects Catalonia’s search for independence from Spain on legal grounds. Both arguments offer an emotional political interpretation as to why Spain gives unofficial priority to Serbia over other candidate states. As such, in Spain, Serbia is widely perceived as the most powerful actor in the Balkans and tops Madrid’s considerations in the region.
Spain does not have major economic interests in the Balkans, nor can it hope to build alliances with the countries of the region in order to achieve agreements on common issues once they become member states. In a way, the good perception of Spain in the Balkans has been wasted due to the fact that no major investments have been made in the region. In fact, Spain is primarily interested in reinforcing the South European border. The Balkans are not part of the Mediterranean policy that the Union has developed. Even Croatia was not included in the new Mediterranean group224, which was
created at the beginning of 2014 and has already had two meetings in Lisbon and Alicante. In reality, the Balkan countries look more towards Central Europe than the Mediterranean basin. Therefore, the main goal of supporting enlargement is to maintain the European peacekeeping track in the region, as well as to be central to the decision-making process regarding EU’s foreign policy – a strategy that has worked very well until now.
Similar to before, Spain advocates strict membership conditions and the ‘regatta principle’ for the Balkan aspirants. Officials at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs agree that no distinction should be made among the Balkan countries that seek to join the EU. They argue that most of the problems coming from previous enlargement rounds, especially in 2004 and 2007, were caused by the application of a flexible conditionality. Such an approach was motivated by ideological considerations, which required the swift integration of these countries. However, for the new EU-hopefuls, Madrid insists that the fulfilment of Chapters 23 and 24 of the acquis should not be negotiable.
Due to the economic crisis and increasing migration flows from new member states, Spain could be tempted to delay the EU accession of the Balkan aspirants, if an agreement on transitional rules that are related to the free movement is not reached. In this sense, Spain might decide to join the Dutch and the French governments in requesting further restrictions to be imposed on the Schengen area towards citizens of new member states. After all, even Germany was very reluctant to lift the transitional measures that were set on nationals of new entrants and Spain actually re-established them for Romanians in July 2011225. Against this backdrop, the Spanish Ministry of Interior and Ministry
of Employment are hesitant about new accessions from the Balkans until these countries meet the conditions that are needed to control borders and tackle issues that are related to corruption, organised crime and other justice and home affairs. These are the main areas of concern for Spain, as
224 Greece, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, and Malta.
225 In 2011, after several years without restrictions, a new restriction on the free movement of Romanian citizens into
Spain was implemented. The transitional rules governing the free movement of workers from, to and between the new member states are available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/eures/main.jsp?acro=free&lang=en&countryId=ES&fromCountryId=RO&accessing=0&content=1& restrictions=1&step=2 (last accessed on: 25 April 2015).
the Balkan countries are perceived to be too small to raise problems in other fields like agriculture, industry or trade.
For the rest, Spain is not likely to be very proactive. At the same time, it is not expected that Madrid will oppose EU’s enlargement towards the Balkans. In line with its diplomatic tradition, Spain might seek to mediate between Serbia and Kosovo in order to help the two sides sort out their impasse, even if the European Service of External Action (EEAS) leads the normalisation talks.
Minister Moratinos ordered the last actions that were taken by the Spanish Foreign Services. The Sarajevo meeting in 2010 was organised under the Spanish Presidency. The event encountered all kinds of difficulties due to the fact that the Lisbon Treaty was entering into force and the foreign policy agenda was no longer in the hands of the Rotating Presidency but in those of the High Representative, who was, at that time, Lady Ashton. The confusion created around competences on these matters was even more visible in April 2013, after the signing of the agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, a deal struck under the auspices of the EEAS.