The EU enlargement by 2025 is not realistic and it is harmful that the Western Balkans pretend to implement reforms and the EU that they are implemented, said former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, Brian Hoyt Yee.
There is no need to give up European integration, but it is important to be honest about the prospects on that path. Because pretending that this is certain and that some countries can become members by 2025, it not only does not help those who need to implement reforms but also encourages kleptocrats, corrupt officials to tell people that membership will happen in two, three, five years and gives them more oxygen than they deserve, Yee said at the conference “Resolving the Unresolved in the Western Balkans” in Washington.
He added that the international community currently has no clear strategy for the Western Balkans, and that the EU and the United States do not give the region the meaning they need, and that it is important that the EU and the United States have a single approach.
We must also know that if we do not react immediately, things will get worse, Yee concluded.
Regarding the meeting of Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci in Berlin on April 29 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emanuel Macron, Yee said the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is not crucial but an opportunity for a conversation.
According to him, the “history books” for the Balkans are filled with moments “now or never”, but the meeting in Berlin is not one of them, although it is an opportunity.
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