Hahn for Balkan enlargement: Main danger China, Kosovo small steps towards EU

He also pointed out the possibility that Beijing will transform the countries of the region into “they trojan”, which one day will be EU members.

Han told “Politto” that the Chinese combination of capitalism and political dictatorship may be desirable to some leaders in the Western Balkan region. According to him, although most Western concerns in recent years focused on Russian activities, there are many more reasons for China's riots, which has made a number of significant investments in infrastructure projects in the region.

As an example of such a project in which China uses its financial power to gain political influence in countries that want to join the EU, Han announced an automobile route to Montenegro, which China has financed and built, “b92” reported, the Periscope broadcast.

This is exactly the case with the famous highway in Montenegro, and there is a Chinese intervention, or to say a business model, to offer tempting loans to transform it into capital. I think we should be aware of the Chinese strategic concept and react favorably. I think this will be one of the biggest challenges for Europe”, Hahn told “Polito”.

Montenegro, like Serbia, began its EU accession negotiations in 2014, suggesting that the two countries could become members by 2025.

Hahn thinks it's a pretty ambitious “”. All Western Balkan countries want to join the EU, however, European countries are divided over their attitude towards those desires. French President Emmanuel Macro is sceptical of opening the EU to new members and insists that the European Union should focus on its reform before considering enlargement.

French officials also fear that each will show that the EU plans to take the poor countries with deep problems, such as organised crime and corruption, as a gift to Eurosceptic parties in the European Parliament elections next year.

In June, Paris managed to postpone the decision to start accession negotiations between Albania and Macedonia until after the May elections. In an interview for “Politio”, Hahn rejected the Macron stance, saying citizens of Western Balkan countries “have the right to become members (BE)” and that the EU has a choice between exporting stability to the region or importing EU instability.

The commissioner said it was “very sure” that negotiations with Albania and Macedonia will begin next year and that the process of praising their readiness for negotiations has already begun.

According to current EU plans, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo do not even have an indication timeline for accession negotiations. According to Hahn, Bosnia and Herzegovina's fragmented political structure -- the result of the 1995 Dayton Accords -- will have to be changed.

The “those living in the so-called Dayton logic are not in line with the logic of Brussels”, the commissioner said.

As far as Kosovo is concerned, the biggest slow progress of agreements with Serbia, as well as the fact that much of Kosovo's income comes from customs and will have to change before joining a single EU market, Hahn said.

According to him, the EU enlargement project for the entire Western Balkans is a historical “sector”. Everything began in 1989 with the fall of the Iron Perde”./Periscopi/