A safeguard clause placing new the bloc’s members under monitoring for 15 years reflects real fears of Viktor Orban-style disruptors – but it could be a gift to anti-EU nationalists as well as a deterrent to backsliders.

A safeguard clause placing new the bloc’s members under monitoring for 15 years reflects real fears of Viktor Orban-style disruptors – but it could be a gift to anti-EU nationalists as well as a deterrent to backsliders.

A safeguard clause placing new the bloc’s members under monitoring for 15 years reflects real fears of Viktor Orban-style disruptors – but it could be a gift to anti-EU nationalists as well as a deterrent to backsliders.

As Serbia mourns Ratko Mladic, how far will Brussels go in defending its principles on the glorification of war criminals?

As Serbia mourns Ratko Mladic, how far will Brussels go in defending its principles on the glorification of war criminals?

The mass incursion into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta showed would-be EU members how the European bloc responds to a genuine shock to its self-proclaimed values of ‘solidarity’.

The mass incursion into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta showed would-be EU members how the European bloc responds to a genuine shock to its self-proclaimed values of ‘solidarity’.

As Albania and Montenegro surge ahead, the EU is split on whether to move Serbia forward on the path to accession in the absence of tangible progress.

As Albania and Montenegro surge ahead, the EU is split on whether to move Serbia forward on the path to accession in the absence of tangible progress.

As Albania and Montenegro surge ahead, the EU is split on whether to move Serbia forward on the path to accession in the absence of tangible progress.

A new Franco-German proposal is heralding a possible new approach to the European bloc’s enlargement process – and leaving the door open for Kosovo. But it was Serbia’s president who grabbed the headlines at the latest EU-Balkans summit.

A new Franco-German proposal is heralding a possible new approach to the European bloc’s enlargement process – and leaving the door open for Kosovo. But it was Serbia’s president who grabbed the headlines at the latest EU-Balkans summit.

A new Franco-German proposal is heralding a possible new approach to the European bloc’s enlargement process – and leaving the door open for Kosovo. But it was Serbia’s president who grabbed the headlines at the latest EU-Balkans summit.

The EU feels a spring in its step as it readies to accept its first new member since 2013 – a decision of enormous symbolic weight, which will also set important precedents.

The EU feels a spring in its step as it readies to accept its first new member since 2013 – a decision of enormous symbolic weight, which will also set important precedents.

EU politicians celebrate spring in Hungary and prospects for Ukraine improve, but Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic contemplates a lonelier future without Budapest’s architect of ‘illiberal democracy’ at his side.

Brussels has already gone cold on a scheme to allow some aspirant countries like Albania and Serbia second-tier membership – but that doesn’t mean that other creative approaches to European enlargement are off the table.

Brussels has already gone cold on a scheme to allow some aspirant countries like Albania and Serbia second-tier membership – but that doesn’t mean that other creative approaches to European enlargement are off the table.

In the first of her monthly dispatches from the heartland of the European Union, Gjeraqina Tuhina looks at which Balkan states have been getting gold stars – or black marks – from the enlargement commissioners.