The top diplomat Ousmane: President Michel's announcement that the EU must prepare for expansion by 2030 gives new hope

Northern Macedonia Foreign Affairs Minister Bujar Osmani has published a newspaper about the European Union's expansion. He has said President Michel's announcement that the EU should prepare for expansion by 2030 gives new hope.

He has written that for Western Balkan candidate countries, the road to EU membership often seems like a work of “Syfi, a long, unpredictable and full of countless obstacles”.

It looks like the final target is constantly moving, while painful compromises are being sought without almost any tangible rewards to the end. The effects most feel their citizens. Remaining in the waiting room in front of EU doors, they are disappointed, which makes them easily subject to the effects of the mountain and anti-agends. - The EU. Similarly, the EU is facing the paradox of its fear: fear of integrating new members, along with fears of losing these states from its sphere of influence and subsequent geopolitical implications”, Osmani wrote.

However, he writes that hope appears in the form of a new paradigm: “Integration ahead of membership”.

“instead of the track membership process, this revised approach allows candidate countries to gradually start experiencing the benefits of integration, based on meeting specific criteria, but long before they gain full membership status. This transition means that candidates can feel initial benefits from EU economic, social and political systems and contribute before membership is formalised”, the top diplomat has written.

North Macedonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, completed:

The process of expanding the European Union, especially in relation to the Western Balkans, has been subject to powerful rhetoric, promises and frustrations.

For most, disappointments stem from the slow multi-year EU accession, which simplified can be expressed by the motto “everything or nothing”. Which means that, during this long road, we have to meet all criteria and by then we won't feel much benefits for the country. This paradigm “everything or nothing” offers some comfort to the countries that spend years, even decades, with their eyes towards membership, doing the hard work, but not feeling the benefits until the end. Therefore, this approach needs to be changed to a gradual and progressive accession to the EU, so that a country's progress can receive its due reward immediately.

For Western Balkan candidate countries, the road to EU membership often looks like a Sizifi job -- long, unpredictable and full of countless obstacles. It seems that the final goal is constantly moving, while painful compromises are being sought without almost any tangible reward to the end. The effects most feel their citizens. Remaining in the waiting room in front of EU doors, they are disappointed, which makes them easily subject to the effects of the mountain and anti-agends. - The EU. Similarly, the EU is facing the paradox of its fear: fear of integrating new members, along with fears of losing these states from its sphere of influence and subsequent geopolitical implications.

However, hope appears in the form of a new parameter: “Integration ahead of membership”.

Instead of the track membership process, this revised approach allows candidate countries to gradually begin experiencing the benefits of integration, based on meeting specific criteria, but long before they gain full membership status. This transition means that candidates can feel initial benefits from EU economic, social and political systems and contribute before membership is formalised.

For the Western Balkans, such an approach offers multiple benefits:

* The immediate impact: enjoying the benefits of integration before formal membership, access to funds, mobility, access to the EU market, etc. will lower the frustration of citizens and be a stronger protection against outside anti-signed influences - The EU.

* Political simulation: Political leaders can testify to tangible results during their mandate, ensuring stable harmonisation with EU standards.

* Building trust: The approach in the phase allows for more natural integration, allowing the EU and candidate countries to establish deeper trust links.

For the EU, such an approach offers:

* Risk reduction: Skills for progressive assessment of the harmonisation and dedication of candidate states.

* Operational Efficiency: it does not additionally burden the EU's functionality in terms of a still unbuilt trust.

A key prerequisite of this paradigm is not to be a full membership option. Western Balkan countries deserve nothing less. The latest developments give weight to this prospect. The announcement of the European Council's president in Bled, Slovenia, saying that the EU must prepare for expansion by 2030, gives new hope.

He stresses that this revised approach is not an alternative to full membership, but a rewarding process along the way to the EU. In essence, shifting the focus from eventual membership to the ongoing integration process is a favourable Wen-in solution. He's in favour of a process of unhindered, more useful and less frustrating approach for all involved.

Facing changing geopolitical reality, with particular emphasis on brutal aggression against Ukraine, the EU and the Western Balkans are at a critical moment. “Integration before membership” is not just an alternative; it is a necessity, ensuring that the EU remains comprehensive, prosperous and, above all, united in its diversity. And when the EU says it must be reformed, it should not be understood this as creating new barriers to enlargement, but rather creating conditions that will enable us to have new members soon.