Western Balkans having second thoughts over EU
• Region’s people are more vocal in their disillusionment this year and are seeking alternatives
For decades, joining the EU was seen as the holy grail for the countries of the Western Balkans. But for most of them, that dream remains elusive. They are starting to look for alternatives.
People of Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia, BosniaHerzegovina and Montenegro have become more vocal in their disillusionment this year as Europe grapples with the aftermath of Russia’s Ukraine invasion and a cost-of-living crisis.
“The polls in the past 18 months, both in our country and the region, show a decline in support for the EU,” North Macedonia’s president, Stevo Pendarovski, said last week.
Brussels is mainly to blame, he said, as “we objectively don’t see the euro-integration process moving forward”.
The EU has taken note. It is holding a summit on Tuesday with leaders of its 27 members in Albania’s capital, Tirana, to show it still believes the Balkan states will one day join the fold.
Complaints have not come only from countries where hope of joining the EU remains strong. Even the European Parliament rebuked the bloc’s leaders for “not delivering on the EU’s longstanding promises.
“The EU’s lack of engagement and credibility over the past few years has created a vacuum, thereby opening up space for Russia, China, and other malign third actors,” it said.
Being left out means being left behind economically. The six Balkan countries that have not won membership all have living standards below 50% of the bloc’s average last year, while the 12 former communist states that have joined since 2004 exceeded that level.
Take North Macedonia, which with Albania started accession talks in July after waiting for 17 years to do so after a tumultuous process in which it even changed its name to qualify.
RICHER LIFE
Having cleared that hurdle, its progress has still stalled due to a row with its neighbour Bulgaria, which is asking for a change in North Macedonia’s constitution before it can proceed with the membership process.
That has been hard to swallow for people in North Macedonia, as the delay may add more years to their chances of a richer life that would more resemble EU standards.
“There are many countries that believe the process should be faster,” US special envoy for the Balkans Gabriel Escobar said last week.
While also in limbo regarding the EU, Serbia has lent a hand, trying to boost its influence in a region that it once dominated from Belgrade before the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, juggling close ties with Russia and a desire to join the EU, was first to send Covid-19 vaccines to North Macedonia two years ago.
And his government changed laws in October, so it could start exporting natural gas to its southern neighbour.
Vucic is also pushing to strengthen the Open Balkans forum, which facilitates trade and travel and eases telephone roaming charges.
He argues that, without a clear EU membership target date, the Balkan states should strengthen economic ties.
The EU has slammed the initiative, with officials from several Balkan nations that have shied away from it. They are concerned that countries that fought wars to become independent from each other in the 1990s may lose focus on accession.
It’s “an undesirable substitute for and distraction from European integration”, Montenegro’s European affairs ministry said in a statement.
The Open Balkans forum lacks transparency and relies on the personal relations of “charismatic leaders”, he said.
But ultimately, it is the EU that should bear the brunt of the blame for a lack of progress towards membership, according to Skopje-based political analyst Ljupco Popovski.
“In the absence of a big reward, people have sought to look for some immediate benefits, even if they were smaller,” he said.