Juncker: Balkans, towards a New War

If in Europe's highly complicated landscape, the impression is that we are not serious in providing the prospect of EU membership for the countries of the Western Balkans, then we can see later, and perhaps even faster than anticipated, what we have seen happen in the Balkans in the 1990s”, Juncker said during a speech given to the Austrian Parliament.

The six Balkan states, which during the 1990s created the battlefield of Europe's bloodiest conflicts since World War II, which led to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, are now in different stages of membership talks with the European Union.

While negotiations for membership have officially started with Serbia and Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia are still waiting for their opening and classified as “candidate seats”. Bosnia and Kosovo, on the other hand, are currently listed as the “potential candidates”.

Juncker had also mentioned last December the fact that, enlargement with Balkan countries was vital to maintaining stability in the region, so he indicated he expected Serbia and Montenegro to join the bloc by 2025. However, their path towards full EU membership was “still very long”, would be careful to stress Juncker.

And while some countries have noted progress, <x0 this progress, according to him, it's still not enough”. He suggested that the EU should offer these states a kind of economic “, where they could partly behave as if they were the bloc's member states.

But Yucker reiterated the fact that he still does not see any of them ready to achieve full membership “before 2025, and even then there won't be anything fast”. According to him, the EU needs “to look after the Western Balkans intensively and help where necessary”.

Juncker stressed that, the “bloc should make sure that it is understandable to anyone, that territorial conflicts between the states of the Western Balkans must be resolved before being offered, or obtain membership”. Among the hottest issues in this regard is Kosovo's status, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but that Belgrade still refuses to recognise.

Juncker was in Vienna to participate in celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Austria. Luxembourg's former prime minister began his mandate as European Commission chief, announcing there would be no further expansion of the bloc under his direction.