The UAE's presence in the Balkans: commercial interest, geopolitical calculations, or a meeting point between 'sultanism' and authoritarianism?

In recent years, the United Arab Emirates has been increasingly active as an investment partner in the Western Balkans. Tena Prelec traces the involvement of the UAE in the region, and examines how western actors have responded to its presence. Given the limited geopolitical significance of the country's involvement, there is little justification for concerns about the UAE 'taking up the space’ of the EU. But the lack of transparency in recent investments should nevertheless be a key concern for policymakers as it has the potential to undermine the conditionality of the rule-based approach explicit in the EU accession process.