The paper deals with EU policies towards its eastern periphery, focusing on the Western Balkans and South Caucasus. Departing from a comparative approach, the paper argues that the establishment of a regional normative order, with clear goals of stabilization through variable geometry integration, has found clear limits. The paper flashes out these dynamics and establishes important lessons to be learned from the European approach to the Balkans and the Caucasus.
enlargement; European Union; neighbourhood