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Serbia is the only Western Balkan country that has not adopted EU sanctions against Russia, further slowing membership prospects...
Some Western Balkan leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated that Ukraine is getting ahead of them in the EU accession process.
" I have nothing against Ukrainians ," Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told the Financial Times. " But the level of EU support for Ukraine, giving it EU candidate status within a year of its application and potentially starting membership talks next year, shows to us that such political support has not never been there for us ," he said.
Kiev applied for membership in February 2022, days after Russia's full invasion, and was granted candidate status four months later. But Belgrade had to wait more than four years after applying to start membership talks in 2014.
Serbia's negotiations are currently deadlocked on several issues, most notably Belgrade's failure to normalize relations with its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. Serbia is also the only Western Balkan country that does not have approved EU sanctions against Russia, further slowing membership prospects.
The EU has pledged to speed up the path of membership of the six countries of the Western Balkans - Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the aim of membership within 2030, as promised by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. .
But in a recent meeting in Slovenia after Michel's announcement, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama cast doubt on the new target and said the example of Ukraine shows that war can accelerate membership.
" Who should attack whom in this panel to get the membership faster? ", Rama jokingly asked his fellow executives who were with him on stage. " Bulgaria can easily attack North Macedonia, Croatia can attack Serbia, Serbia can attack Kosovo, Bosnia can attack itself. . . so we can all be ready to join the train with Ukraine ", he said.
While Ukraine's faster progress frustrates many, North Macedonia, a Nato country that waited 18 years before starting EU membership talks, said it was not considering the war-torn country as "competition". .
" The result of the war in Ukraine will determine the fate of the union itself ", said the foreign minister of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani. " Ukraine should not be seen as privileged because Ukraine is not only fighting for itself, it is fighting for the future of the continent ".
The breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s led to wars between Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, leading to tens of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced people. Several hostilities, including the composition of Bosnia and the status of Kosovo, have flared up repeatedly since then, making their EU integration even more elusive.
After another failed meeting between the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that " without normalization, there will be no European future for either Kosovo or Serbia ". Kosovo applied for EU membership last December and has not yet been granted candidate status.
Megjithatë, Vuçiç pohoi se vonesat nuk po pasqyronin realitetin në vendin e tij, për të cilin ai argumentoi se ishte "në gjendje shumë më të mirë sesa ishin Rumania dhe Bullgaria në 2007 kur u bashkuan me BE". Ai fajësoi gjithashtu aftësinë në rënie të BE për të thithur anëtarë të rinj.
“Kush e di se çfarë do të ndodhë pas shtatë vjetësh? Fuqia absorbuese e BE-së nuk është më e madhe se sa ishte. Ju keni 10 kontribues neto dhe 17 vende që po marrin paratë e tyre. Asnjëri nuk do të donte të kishte më shumë anëtarë në listën e tyre të pagesave”, tha ai.
Në konferencën në Slloveni, Michel tha se pushtimi rus i Ukrainës ka ringjallur idenë e zgjerimit të Ballkanit pas dy dekadash ngecje.
“Kjo është ambicioze, por e nevojshme. Kjo tregon se jemi seriozë”, tha ai për zotimin e vitit 2030.
Analistët e panë këtë angazhim jo bindës, duke pasur parasysh shqetësimet e vazhdueshme të sundimit të ligjit dhe korrupsionit dhe çështje të tjera që i kanë penguar ata prej vitesh.
"Unë nuk mendoj se kjo datë 2030 ka kuptim", tha Jasmin Mujanović, një ekspert politik i lindur në Sarajevë, i specializuar në Ballkanin Perëndimor. “Momenti gjeopolitik nga Ukraina është aty, por është shumë i vështirë”, shtoi ai, duke e krahasuar situatën me vitin 2003, kur anëtarësimi i Ballkanit Perëndimor u shfaq për herë të parë.
At the time, he noted, the sense of urgency was greater as violent conflicts in the region had just ended. " In 2003, the EU had no competitors, Russia, China were not threats. . . There was a much greater degree of optimism ," he added.
But 20 years later, " we have seen the EU break every promise, fail on every threat ," he said. In Serbia, the hard right has returned, in Bosnia Milorad Dodik, a frequent critic of the EU and the West, " is untouchable " and Belgrade's disputes with Kosovo are unresolved. " There is very little hope for any credible improvement ," he said. / Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Financial Times"
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