Western Balkans region gets endorsement from Merkel on path to EU integration

The German chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) has mentioned that the six Western Balkan countries should become EU member states in the future. She considers this move to hold strategic importance hinting at the influence China and Russia have in the region, writes Cristian Gherasim, Bucharest correspondent.

"It is in the European Union's very own interests to drive the process forward here," Merkel said during a virtual conference on the future of Western Balkans.

The conference was attended by the heads of government of Serbia, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In 2003 the Council summit in Thessaloniki set integration of the Western Balkans as a priority of EU expansion. The EU's relations with the Western Balkans states were moved from the "External Relations" to the "Enlargement" policy segment in 2005.

Serbia officially applied for European Union membership on 22 December 2009. Accession negotiations are currently ongoing. Ideally, Serbia is expected to complete its negotiations by the end of 2024.

For Albania, accessions talks began in March last year when EU ministers reached a political agreement on opening accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. Until now, Albania has received in EU money a total of €1.2bn of developmental aid from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, a funding mechanism for EU candidate countries.

Probably the widest support out of all Western Balkan states in joining the union is received by Montenegro. The accession negotiations with Montenegro began on 29 June 2012. With all the negotiating chapters opened, the country’s widespread support amongst EU members' officials could prove very valuable for Montenegro to meet its 2025 accession deadline.

North Macedonia faces a bit more hurdles from its neighbours in becoming the next EU member state. North Macedonia faced two separate issues with both Greece and Bulgaria. The use of the country name "Macedonia" was the object of a dispute with neighboring Greece between 1991 and 2019, resulting in a Greek veto against EU and NATO accession talks. After the issue was resolved, the EU gave its formal approval to begin accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania in March 2020. Bulgaria on the other hand in November 2020 effectively blocked the official start of North Macedonia's EU Accession Negotiations over what it perceives as slow progress on the implementation of the 2017 Friendship Treaty between the two countries, state-supported or tolerated hate speech and minority claims towards Bulgaria.

Even less fortunate on the waiting list for EU accession talks is Bosnia and Herzegovina. An opinion on Bosnia's application was published by the European Commission in May 2019. It remains a potential candidate country until it can successfully answer all of the questions on the European Commission's questionnaire sheet as well as "ensure the functioning of the Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee and develop a national programme for the adoption of the EU acquis.” Many observers estimate that Bosnia and Herzegovina is at the bottom in terms of EU integration among the Western Balkans states seeking EU membership.

Kosovo is recognized by the EU as a potential candidate for accession. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EU and Kosovo was signed on 26 February 2016 but Kosovo is still far on the path to EU accession.

Supporting a speed up of the integration process for the six western Balkan nations is also backed by President of the European Commission. Von der Leyen said: "Our first priority is to accelerate the enlargement agenda across the region and support our Western Balkan partners in their work to deliver on the necessary reforms to advance on their European path."

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