Western Balkans Part of the EU

The EU made in June 2003 its promise that all Western Balkan countries will become one day EU members. It shows continuity and is right to keep that promise

Belief in a united Europe was at the beginning of the 21st century so great that four years after the Kosovo war, these countries became the target of accession. Ten years later, there was nothing left. The crisis that began with Lehmann Brothers' bankruptcy led to the abyss of entire countries in Europe. The EU threatened to break down, and further enlargement could not be imagined. After Croatia's EU accession in 2013, further accession was granted.

This news also reached the governments of the Western Balkans. They delayed the necessary reforms and became less democratic. Close EU accession as an engine for democratic reforms and the fight against customers and corruption no longer worked. EU friends in the Western Balkans feel themselves deceived and cynicism spread there.
Such cynicism can be overcome. The reason is a strategic document that was published Tuesday by the EU Commission, which makes it clear that Serbia and Montenegro could become EU members as early as 2025.
An ugly void on the map
Why Balkan countries want to become as soon as possible EU members understand it clearly when they look at the map. An ugly void is seen on the EU map in non-EU countries. It's not a beautiful hole like the one in the center of the continent that reminds you of the hole in Swiss cheese. People in Switzerland are doing well even if they don't want to enter the EU, that's simple.

While the gap in the southeast of the continent looks like a hole in an asphaltd road that needs to be filled fast and if the EU doesn't do that then others come and do. China with infrastructure projects, Russia and Turkey with the energy sector, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with the export of a kind of Islamism, which has no tradition in the region. Most people in the Western Balkans would prefer that their problems be solved as part of the EU.

Good for Europe

The most important source of the Western Balkans is homesickness for Europe, which has been lost in many EU countries. Macedonia's government is willing to change its country's name to end a absurd row with Greece and opening accession talks with Brussels. The Serbian government would recognise Kosovo's independence if accession talks were successful, even if before its people it still does not accept it. With the exception of 8 thousand refugees, Serbia has done much more than many EU nations, and has done so without mass popular demonstrations and media instigation of hate against refugees. You cannot accuse these countries of lack of commitment.

Critics would question whether the six Western Balkan countries meet high standards for EU membership. The honest answer is: No. Even Serbia-Montenegro will not be able to meet all conditions by 2025. But this is not a topic that can be used against accession.

Nobody's perfect.

Let's think about what countries should be out of the EU if we had to use high standards everywhere. We do not want in the EU to have countries where corruption is massive: Ciao Bella Italy. We don't want places where journalists should be afraid to do their job: Bye Bye Malta. We don't want to have places where right radicals are in government: Goodbye, Austria.
If the EU consisted only of countries that currently meet the stability and development package, in which there is no corruption and where high EU standards are met on rule of law issues, press freedom and minority protection, then the EU would now have only four members: Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Holland. Germany and Finland can be admitted to the EU in the near future if they stick to the savings course and lower state debts below 60 per cent of gross domestic production.

Acceptability as an incentive

The decision-making should not be whether the countries of the Western Balkans meet all the conditions, but if they fight corruption, automotiveism and democratisation. They will do so if EU accession remains as a realistic option. Therefore, it is important that the EU Commission wine be targeted in 2025. Another 15 years cannot be let go.
A popular joke in the region says: “If the EU doesn't come to us, then we'll get the bus to go there.” If the EU fails to integrate the Western Balkans and provide positive direction to the region's economic and democratic developments, then people, especially young people, will leave the country because they do not see prospects there. Giving these people a European perspective would be a project worth the EU.

/Krsto Lazarevic was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as a child the refugee has come to Germany with his family. Today he lives in Berlin, works as a journalist and publicist, and writes about different media in German.

/DW