10 minutes agoThe Economist gives the forecast for the Berlin meeting
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)On April 29th, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will host leaders of Western Balkan states, as well as prime ministers of Croatia and Slovenia. Jean-Claude Juncker, who is president of the European Commission and the EU High Representative Federica Moghrini for relations [...]
The Berlin meeting, which is expected to be the main topic of Kosovo-Serbia problem, has received increased international attention. Foreign media are writing about possible proposals for the agreement between the two states. The Economist has also come up with a letter on everything can be expected from Berlin.
“The summit will take place at a time when EU policies towards the Western Balkans are unclear at many levels of”, this magazine writes.
First, there are many international and regional disputes for accepting the idea of mending borders along ethnic lines as part of normalising Kosovo-Serbia relations. Croatia, Germany, Northern Macedonia and the Kosovo Parliament oppose this idea. While Austria, Serbia, Slovenia, Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, the US and the European Commission are open to this idea, writes The Economist.
Macron has not yet gone public with any stance on this idea, but Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci say he has supported changing borders.
Second, the credibility of the European perspective for the Western Balkans has been challenged by French opposition. France wants to stop enlargement until a reform is made on European Union institutions. In June 2018, France rejected the start of membership talks with Albania and Northern Macedonia, and it seems that it will again seek to postpone the start of negotiations for membership of these two states in June of this year.
The Economist in her analysis concludes that Germany is trying to persuade France to change its attitude towards the Western Balkans.
Germany, however, does not seem to succeed in convincing France of starting EU membership negotiations with Albania and Northern Macedonia. This is because EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn is not invited to this meeting. In no case is Macro expected to risk openly supporting EU enlargement ahead of the European Parliament elections held in May.
In the best anticipated conclusion by The Economist, the April 29th meeting will be an occasion for Germany to support the European perspective of the Western Balkans. And also achieve a common policy between Germany and France about Kosovo-Serbia negotiations. No concrete progress is expected for the EU enlargement policy towards the Western Balkans before June.
