The outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic has put to the test the EU’s cohesionand effectiveness not only with regard to its internal governance, but also inrelation to its strategic partnerships with neighbouring countries, starting fromthe enlargement countries in the Western Balkans. While a series of multiplecrises were already contributing to cement resistance towards accession of newmembers into the EU, the pandemic seems to have exacerbated pre-existingproblems in the Western Balkans – notably the enduring socio-economicentropy, unresolved constitutional disputes and backsliding in democraticstandards. At the same time, other foreign actors, starting from China, Russia,Turkey and some Gulf states, are also vying for political, economic and culturalinfluence in this part of Europe, reflecting the current acceleration of broadergeopolitical strains and placing the Western Balkans in the quicksands ofEuropean and global dynamics. All this reinforces the urgency of searching forways to upgrade the EU’s stance in the region, and to bring what once wasconsidered the EU’s most successful foreign policy, the enlargement, into anew era of political realism.