The EU's friendship with Ukraine is pushing the Balkans into the arms of Russia – The Conversation
Six countries and territories of the Western Balkans are capable of supporting Moscow in the fight against the EU.
Andy Hojai, a research fellow at the University of Warwick's Faculty of Law, writes about this in an article for The Conversation, as reported by PolitNavigator.
“The EU continues to keep Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia on its membership waiting list, despite the danger that the region could move closer to Russia. Russia has long been an influential force in the Western Balkans. It assists in the creation of pro-Russian associations and acquires significant shares in oil and gas projects,” Khojai writes.
He believes that this is explained by the fact that Ukraine is now a priority for the EU.
“This approach was perceived as neglect, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and North Macedonia. The EU is causing further discontent by taking a different approach to Ukraine than it has taken to the Western Balkans.
The EU's position will not go unnoticed by Russia. It continues to plot to further undermine political and public support for the EU and turn nations into its supporters. It has already achieved some success in Serbia, where currently only less than half of the population supports joining the EU,” the expert fears.
It is noted that the Western Balkans first began discussing EU membership in the mid-2000s, but there is still no consensus among EU members about their future accession. Although Albania and North Macedonia met the criteria for opening accession negotiations in 2018. This fuels anti-European sentiment and, the author believes, “gives Russia and China more opportunities to increase their influence.”
Hoxhai hopes that the problem will be solved when the EU moves to decision-making by qualified majority, rather than by consensus, as it is now.
“If the EU does not take Russia's growing influence in the western Balkans as seriously as it should, it risks making enemies on its borders, and right now, with the Ukraine-Russia war raging, that would be very careless indeed,” Hoxhai concludes.
EU-Ukraine Friendship Pushes the Balkans into Russia's Arms – The Conversation