A summit to make the Balkans wait for EU membership
Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and other leaders of the EU and the Western Balkans in Brdo, Slovenia, October 5, 2021. Ludovic MARIN AFP
Text by: Carlotta Morteo Follow
4 min
The EU-Western Balkans summit which brings together the 27 and the heads of state of Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania opens this Wednesday in Slovenia.
Six small countries in the south-east of the continent, surrounded by member countries, which have been candidates for entry into the Union for nearly 20 years.
Many have the feeling that the integration process is not moving forward and that the summits follow one another without any real progress.
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The file makes those who follow it a little gloomy.
"
We have the feeling that nothing is progressing in this integration process,"
notes Sébastien Gricourt, director of the
Balkans Observatory at the Jean Jaurès Foundation
.
“
The initial promise is, however, formal.
But it dates from the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003… 18 years ago.
"
Brakes
Many factors, internal to the Balkans and to the European Union, stalled the negotiations. First, questions relating to the rule of law, the foundation on which the integration of new members into the EU is based. On the one hand, the countries of the Western Balkans are committed to upholding the fundamental values of the rule of law, but their efforts in terms of the separation of powers or the fight against organized crime are struggling to materialize. On the other hand, the significant investments of the European Union, the main donor in the region, have not served to dislodge autocrats, nor to stem corruption.
In addition, border and ethnocultural tensions have still not been resolved.
Just last week, an unprecedented outbreak of fever over license plate stories raised fears for the worst on the border between Serbia and Kosovo.
The divided EU countries are also slowing down the talks.
Recently, in 2019, France, Denmark and the Netherlands froze accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia.
Today, it is Bulgaria which is vetoing it because of a cultural dispute.
A strategic region ...
Enough to cool European aspirations in a region where the hope of joining the Union is constantly falling: according to the
Balkans Barometer 2020
, a quarter of citizens think that their country will "never" be part of the Union .
Surrounded by member countries, the last gray area on the map of the European Union, the Western Balkans nevertheless have a certain geostrategic interest for Europe: “
It is absurd to see a region of Europe disconnected from the main roads and railways. of the continent
”, laments Alexis Troude, specialist in the region at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin. "
We must occupy the area of South-East Europe to have a link with Greece, Romania and Bulgaria,
" he said.
Not only the agricultural wealth of the Balkans and the technical know-how of its engineers would be assets for the European Union, but its international credibility is at stake, according to Sébastien Gricourt: “
If it is not capable of integrating this region , what can she expect in the rest of the world?
"
And coveted
Especially since other foreign powers did not wait to advance their pawns. Russia has succeeded in completing its gas distribution network which avoids Ukraine by passing through the Balkans to arrive in Hungary, and has signed a large number of military agreements with Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia. China, "
considers these countries - and especially Serbia - as its" Trojan horse "to enter Europe,
explains Alexis Troude.
After buying ports in Greece and Italy, the Silk Road now extends to Montenegro and Bosnia. They are rebuilding the entire highway and rail system,
”he explains.
Projects which mark the spirits, even if they are not always very successful, nuance Sébastien Gricourt, which recalls “
the trap of the debt
” in which Montenegro finds itself after having accepted a loan of one billion dollars for a road, which he struggles to repay.
European projects, however numerous and important, in fields such as health or education do not benefit from the same publicity.
This is what is suggested by European sources who believe that "this
is the time to assert ourselves, to make people understand that we are the main investor and the closest commercial partner
".
Faced with the failure of integration efforts, the Union must at least renew its image.
Hence the economic package of 30 billion euros over seven years that the EU is promising today in the Western Balkans to finance transport but also energy transition, health, training and the digitization of the economy.
“
All of this is hopeful and these are areas that do not interest Russia and China.
If this summit can make it possible to make concrete use of these funds, it will already be good,
”concludes Sébastien Gricourt.
In the absence of a timetable for political integration of the Balkans, the EU is counting on deepening economic ties and more political dialogue ... just to make them wait.
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