Márton Gyöngyösi
24/11/2023
After the European Union’s proverbial “enlargement fatigue” of the 2010s, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine radically changed the EU’s stance on its eastern neighbourhood. What seemed hardly more than a political slogan suddenly manifested in reality after 24th February 2022: Euro-Atlantic integration is indeed the most crucial element of peace. If you are left out of it, you lose a key security guarantee.
(Photo: https://thesrpskatimes.com/)
Seeing Europe’s renewed interest, the Balkan states rightfully hoped for a speedier process since EU accession had looked like a complicated and unpredictably lengthy procedure for them, with repeated setbacks and ever newer requirements to meet.
Of course, it is important to provide all the necessary support for Ukraine and Moldova so that they could become a member of the European Union one day. However, it would be a bad message for the Western Balkan countries if they, despite all their efforts, had to see Ukraine and Moldova being prioritized over them in the accession talks for geopolitical reasons.
I think we in the European Union tend to take the Western Balkan states’ dedication to integration for granted. Let me caution everyone against entertaining such ideas. The fact of the matter is that the disappointment of the region’s countries in the European Union was already palpable as early as 10 years ago, while such pro-Russia politicians as Aleksandar Vučić or Milorad Dodik have been able to capitalize on the mood swings of the increasingly Eurosceptic public. However, while we do our best to push back Russia’s influence in Ukraine and Moldova, we must not turn a blind eye to Moscow gaining ground in the Balkans. We keep overlooking it, even though the Western Balkans have a much longer history of European connections than Ukraine and Moldova, who, with all their virtues and appreciated dedication, have just started to set out on a “European trajectory” in recent years.
We must not let down the Ukrainian and Moldovan people who have placed their trust in Europe. Similarly, we must not let down our friends in Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania, either.
We have had and will have our interests, but the European Union’s strength lies in being a community that does not only have interests, but values, too. That’s why we must not forget about the Western Balkan countries and must not neglect supporting them, so that they could set out on the European path, getting rid of their disappointments and their Moscovite politicians as well.
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