The EU enlargement process is not dead, however it is in a ‘bad shape’ due to the fact that the Union is going through many other crises.
Still, there is no alternative, it was concluded Monday at a debate on the EU perspective of Western Balkan countries, organized by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) in Skopje. The process is experiencing a standstill and a different kind of engagement is needed, according to Stefan Lehne, former diplomat and expert in Balkan affairs.
The EU, said Lehne, is preoccupied with many challenges, including the upcoming Brexit referendum, the migrant crisis, Eurocrisis, the rise of populism across the continent and thus there is less time for the region now.
According to him, with these internal issues and the external challenges coming from Syria to Ukraine, the enlargement has fell on the bottom of the agenda and is not as important as it used to be. Taking into consideration these developments, Lehne added, it is a good thing that countries such as BiH, Serbia and Montenegro are making progress and efforts in terms of EU integration.
“The region has no other strategic alternative but the EU and also the Union has no other alternative because it has invested so much in the region.” As regards the refugee crisis, Lehne said it had contributed to putting an accent on the region adding it hadn’t been solved yet. Austrian diplomat Wolfgang Petrich, who served as special EU envoy for Kosovo and UN high representative for BiH, said the enlargement process was being put off, but it had no alternative. He said every country in the region was responsible for pursuing reform implementation.