The Special Representative of the European Union for the Western Balkans, Miroslav Lajčak, today denied the assessment of President Aleksandar Vučić that Serbia and Montenegro cannot become EU members until 2028.
"Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia completed accession negotiations in less than three years. Montenegro and Serbia have been negotiating for years and are still far from the middle of the process. But if you are serious, if you start closing chapters, you can do it in two and a half and two more years for ratification. It is not unrealistic, but it is an ideal scenario," said Lajčak at the GLOBSEC regional security conference in Prague.
The Special Representative warned that for years the EU neglected the countries of the Western Balkans and its promise of admission to the EU made before 21 years ago.
"Emotions have disappeared. Now it is clear that enlargement is a geopolitical necessity, but that does not mean that we are ready and that they are ready because they have been neglected for a very long time, emotions have disappeared and, unfortunately, the commitment to reforms has almost completely disappeared," Lajčak said. .
He said that earlier, at the time when Slovakia entered the EU, the rules were clear and it was known that if the candidate country met the criteria, it would indeed be admitted to the EU.
"Now you ask them to carry out reforms, and they are not sure that this will bring benefits in the form of membership. And you lose popularity. That's why both sides are pretending, we will accept them, and they are doing everything to accept them, both sides are pretending Lajcak said.
Miroslav Lajčak added that Montenegro can enter the EU in 2028 because everything is in its hands, while Serbia has the problem of Kosovo.
"If we don't solve the issue of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, we can forget about the integration of the Western Balkans, not only Serbia and Kosovo. I think we managed to do the best possible thing with the normalization agreement that was adopted last year in Ohrid, but it was never implemented Lajcak said.
The European official quoted the message of French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to Belgrade: "The road is paved and it's called Ohrid."
"However, there is a lack of political will, and societies are not ready for it. In addition, we will have parliamentary elections in Kosovo in February, so it is naive to expect a turnaround before the elections. But we need to see significant progress in implementation right after the elections," said Lajčak.
Miroslav Lajčak reminded that 53 percent of EU citizens want enlargement, but that when they are faced with questions such as whether their country will continue to be a net user of funds or whether the EU will be stronger with these new countries, then the readiness for enlargement is more complicated .
"I know how easy it is for third countries to prevent the EU from being a geopolitical factor. It is enough to convince one member country to use the veto," Lajčak said at a panel debate on EU enlargement at the GLOBSEC security conference from August 30 to September 1 in Prague.
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