The European Union (EU) wants to show that it still cares about the Balkans, but not everyone feels that love equally, the Brussels portal Politiko (www.politico.eu) writes today.
In the extensive text entitled "Brussels is again in the Balkans, but selectively" it is stated that in recent months the EU has rediscovered its interest in the Balkans, disturbed by Russia's attempts to influence the region and the deterioration of relations between individual countries of the region, which were at war until a decade ago.
EU leaders began to send signals that the road to Brussels is still open, writes Politiko and recalls that both the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, emphasized that the EU must be open to members from the Western Balkans, that Junker and President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani to visit the region at the beginning of next year, while Bulgaria said that it wants support for the European integration of the countries of the Western Balkans to be a priority of its EU presidency in the first half of 2018.
Brussels, however, does not anticipate that all six countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) will join the EU at the same time, adds Politiko and states that the European Commission named Serbia and Montenegro as favorites with the aim of become members by 2025, if not sooner.
The focus on those two countries caused alarm, confusion and anger among others in the region, writes Politiko, and states that Kosovo Prime Minister Ramuš Haradinaj suggested that Serbia receives preferential treatment because it is playing the card of possible rapprochement with Russia.
"Belgrade profited a lot from playing the alternative card, which is Moscow, Russia... The message to our region should be clear and not with double standards," said Haradinaj in a recent interview during a visit to Brussels.
Haradinaj, who hopes that Kosovo will submit an application for EU membership in the second half of 2018, says that all Western Balkan countries should enter the EU at the same time, according to Politiko.
The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, believes that the favorite's strategy can be Islamophobic because it puts countries with a predominantly Muslim population in the background compared to predominantly Orthodox countries.
Although less critical, Albania is also confused by the new EU strategy. Albanian ambassador to the EU, Janina Suela, said that Tirana welcomes Juncker's statement on the admission of the Western Balkans, but wants clarification on the strategy of the favourites.
The European Commission says that the separation of Serbia and Montenegro simply reflects the fact that only those two countries have started membership negotiations. Diplomats, however, worry that the duo will now grab the lion's share of Brussels' attention, according to Politiko.
"It is not a problem for us that the two countries that have already started negotiations are mentioned. It will be a problem if the strategy is concentrated only on those two," said the Albanian ambassador.
Politko writes that the plan of Brussels irritated even Montenegro, which believes that it is ahead of Serbia on the way to the EU, so it does not like hints that it might have to wait for its larger neighbor.
"We have been in the process for much longer and we are almost finishing the negotiations that they are just starting," said Montenegrin ambassador to the EU, Bojan Šarkić, as reported by Politiko, adding that Montenegrin officials are even bothered by the fact that in the order of mention of favorites, Serbia comes first.
Defending the EU's strategy, European Commissioner for Enlargement Johannes Hahn said that it stimulates healthy competition among potential candidates in implementing the necessary reforms. According to him, the Commission is ready to recommend the start of negotiations with Albania and possibly Macedonia in the first half of 2018, but, as he added, this will only happen if EU members support that proposal.
EU leaders who support enlargement say that the admission of the Western Balkans is in the interest of the EU, which surrounds the region on three sides, and point out that the migrant crisis in 2015 showed the importance of the region for the stability of the Union.
"If the countries of the Western Balkans adopt reforms for joining the EU, the theory goes, they themselves will become more prosperous, more stable and closer to the interests of the EU. If we do not embrace them in some way, they will feel abandoned by the EU and will look for other allies," said the Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar.
In his speech about Europe at the Sorbonne, Macron warned that if the countries of the Western Balkans do not have a clear perspective of EU membership, they will turn to Russia or Turkey, "or authoritarian powers that do not defend European values today."
Although both China and the Gulf countries are increasingly economically active in the EU region, the role of Russia is of greatest concern, even though Moscow insists that it does not destabilize the Balkans, states Politiko and reminds that Montenegro accuses Russian agents of being behind the coup attempt, that Russia "gives away MIG fighter jets to Serbia " and "supports the separatist ambitions of the Serbian entity in BiH".
However, Politiko adds, EU officials admit that it is difficult to secure public support for the admission of relatively poor countries whose recent history has been marked by wars and instability, especially while right-wing populism still exists.
For governments in the region that aspire to EU membership, the return to the focus of Brussels is welcome, Politiko assesses and reports the words of Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić that now the atmosphere is much different than in 2014 when Junker said that the EU needed a break from enlargement.
Politiko also writes that the common problem in the entire region is the strength of organized crime and its connection with the political elite in which corruption is widespread, while the EU has a problem with credibility because there is a widespread belief in the Western Balkans that the EU does not really care too much about the region.
Support for EU membership is weak in several countries of the Western Balkans, and most of all, ironically, in the favorite Serbia, where according to the last annual Balkan barometer, only 26 percent of citizens think that joining the EU would be a good thing.
Serbia is also facing potential obstacles in negotiations from Croatia, and its problem is its relations with Kosovo, which it still considers its province, while Kosovo has a problem with its legal status because five EU countries do not recognize its independence, according to Politiko.
Another inherited problem from the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia is the demarcation of the border between Montenegro and Kosovo, which is why the plans to cancel Schengen visas for Kosovo citizens have been postponed, Politiko reports and reports Commissioner Han's words that the EU learned a lesson from the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia and that border disputes must be resolved before entering the EU.
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