Western Balkans are not allowed into the European home
The initiative of Slovenia, which is presiding over the EU, to admit Western Balkan countries into the European Union by 2030 will not be supported.
This was stated by Georgy Engelhardt, a research fellow at the Department of Contemporary History of Central and Southeastern European Countries at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent , in assessing the Slovenian proposal.
“It is addressed, in essence, not to the EU, but to Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo. This is an application for Slovenia’s special relations with these countries,” Engelhardt told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
He added that the current EU chairman does not have any special political weight.
“But Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa acts, I would say, in a dissident role, voicing the position of the Central European countries and opposing the lines of Berlin and Paris,” the expert added.
He predicts that the EU-Western Balkans summit, which began in Slovenia, will end with declarations rather than concrete promises.
“The purpose of the summit is to demonstrate the commitment of the EU countries themselves to European integration and confirm that they are ready to accept new members. But any deadlines are unlikely to be named,” the political scientist notes.
Western Balkans are not allowed into the European home.