Western geopolitics and Balkan corruption: How US and EU justice reform efforts fuelled power centralization and failed justice The prospects for European integration in the Western Balkans remain difficult to measure. European integration in the Western Balkans remains an open-ended and deeply contested process. From the perspective of Brussels and Washington, the Western Balkans have long represented both a strategic and economic opportunity. EU assessments have noted that Montenegro made little progress in judicial reform despite implementing a Justice Reform Strategy and related action plans . Luka Petrović is a political analyst of Balkan descent based in Germany, with a focus on the Western Balkans, international relations, and human rights.