While the narratives of democratization and Europeanization had significant mobilizing potential in the Western Balkans during the 1990s and early 2000s, their relevance has been largely undermined by recent political developments in the region and growing crises of solidarity within the EU. This article offers a novel perspective for understanding the prospects of an EU future for the Western Balkans, through a discussion of the ideas and practices of political solidarity. It introduces the need to differentiate between reactive and institutional solidarity, and argues that institutional solidarity has a unique potential to mobilize the attention and commitment of citizens by offering a projection of a durable and sustainable political community organized around the principles of social justice and equality. Operationalizing this has become a necessary precondition not only for the “European future” of the Western Balkans but also for the future of the European project itself.

虽然民主化和欧洲化的叙述在 1990 年代和 2000 年代初期在西巴尔干地区具有巨大的动员潜力，但它们的相关性在很大程度上被该地区最近的政治发展和欧盟内部日益严重的团结危机所削弱。本文通过讨论政治团结的理念和实践，为理解西巴尔干地区的欧盟未来前景提供了一个新颖的视角。它介绍了区分被动团结和制度团结的必要性，并认为制度团结具有独特的潜力，可以通过提供围绕社会正义和平等原则组织的持久和可持续的政治共同体来调动公民的注意力和承诺。