Introduction
Dr. Karen Donfried, President, The German Marshall Fund of the United States

Discussant
Senator Christopher Murphy, Chairman, Europe Subcommittee; Member, Foreign Relations Committee, United States Senate

Moderator
Nenad Zafirovic, U.S. Bureau Chief, Serbian Public Broadcasting Corporation

After decades of dispute, the majority of the Western Balkans are finally on a path to full membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Led by Croatia, which joined NATO in 2009 and the EU in 2013, Albania, Serbia, and Montenegro are now following suit, and brokered talks with Serbia are opening up opportunities for Kosovo. There is little doubt that all the states in this region will one day join the transatlantic community. The European Council made this explicit in its Thessaloniki promise of 2003. Candidates will have to meet criteria and pass a more rigorous evaluation process than their predecessors, but high public support for this effort will make the job that much easier, despite overt and covert opposition of countries such as Russia. What can the United States do to move things along, especially with more pressing and challenging issues in other parts of the world?