The mood ahead of the EU – Balkan summit in Slovenia that begins today indicates that Macedonia and the rest of the unintegrated Balkan countries will remain a black hole in Europe for a long time to come. This is especially serious for Macedonia where Zoran Zaev imposed a long list of difficult and humiliating concessions on issues of national identity that were meant to open the EU accession process, only have the prospects quashed.

EU member states are expected to even go back on their largely empty promises of Balkan integration and to water down the often repeated promise that all countries are welcome to join. Macedonia is currently blocked by Bulgaria, which, by extension, blocks Albania as well. But it’s clear that far larger and more important EU member states are skeptical of integration and seem happy to see the candidates blocked.

In Ljubljana, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for the EU integration process to the sped up.

If there is no date to open accession talks, that means that the pace is slowing down, Kurz said.

But he warned that France remains skeptical especially ahead of its presidential elections.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto insisted that the Balkans can’t be treated as the “back yard” of Europe, with no progress in its European integration. Szijjarto added that the other EU member states seem unaware of the security threats that are coming from the Balkans if the region is left outside of the EU and warned about outside influences in the Balkans.

How will we win the game if we are not even on the field? If the EU won’t integrate the region, others will, Szijjarto added.