Western Balkan states will need allies in an increasingly enlargement sceptic EU if they are to realise their aims of EU accession

The results of the European Parliament elections will have been closely watched in the Western Balkans – and with good reason. James Ker-Lindsay writes that support for enlargement, undermined in recent years by the attention given to the financial crisis, is likely to diminish still further as the anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic feeling that emerged from the period of austerity has finally been reflected in the ballot box. However, the region may yet find a champion, or two, from within the new line up at the heart of the European Union.