Several Western Balkan leaders urged the European Union to review the EU enlargement process and expressed their impatience on the issue on Tuesday 3 December in Brussels at the annual conference of the Friends of Europe think tank.
“The EU is making a mistake with our region. Delaying enlargement brings new problems”, warned Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaçi. The lack of European decisions is leading, according to him, to the rise of nationalism in the Western Balkans and to the regression of some countries in terms of democracy.
“All the reforms undertaken by the candidate countries are threatened by populism”, he lamented, assuring that, where the EU does not position itself, Russia will do so.
Several leaders expressed their disappointment at the deadlock in the accession negotiations for North Macedonia and Albania (see EUROPE 12351/4). They believe that the ball is now in the Europeans’ court.
“What more can be expected from a country that has gone so far as to change its name and is refused negotiations?”, asked Josip Brkić, Bosnian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
A more effective enlargement process
The Western Balkans are among the new Commission’s priorities, said Christian Danielsson of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. Like many speakers, he considered that progress on this issue would require a review of the accession process.
“We are considering how we can make this process more credible and effective”, said Tanja Fajon (S&D, Slovenia), chair of the EU/Serbia delegation in the European Parliament. “Opening and closing chapters [of negotiations, editor’s note] no longer means anything tangible to citizens and governments”, she said.
This kind of policy is supported by France, which presented proposals in November to reform the accession process (see EUROPE 12371/17).
Balkan leaders have high expectations for the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council, which will begin in January 2020. Croatian Minister for Regional Development Marko Pavić welcomed the efforts of the Finnish Presidency, which on the previous day had been blamed by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who described Finland’s failure to make progress on enlargement as a “huge failure”.
Many also base their hopes on the EU/Western Balkans Summit in Zagreb, scheduled for May 2020. “I remain optimistic about this summit. But not enthusiastic”, concluded President Thaçi. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki, intern)