The countries of the Western Balkans have been waiting to join the European Union for almost two decades. Little has happened so far. That should change now. The Chancellor visits the region. At the end of the trip, Olaf Scholz draws a positive balance – but in one country there is resentment.
It was a sentence they didn’t like to hear in the Serbian capital. It is inconceivable “that two countries that do not recognize each other become members of the EU,” said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) during his visit to Kosovo. Dialogue is needed, “as difficult as it is sometimes”. The “two countries” mean the brawlers Kosovo and Serbia – Kosovo had split from Serbia in 2008, the Serbs still regard the country as a breakaway province.
But they both want to join the EU, and that’s where Olaf Scholz’s problem starts. The chancellor had set himself a mammoth program for Friday and Saturday and, within less than 48 hours, rattled through the three Western Balkan states of Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia, as well as the neighboring countries Bulgaria and Greece. The goal: to breathe new life into the process for the admission of the six states of the Western Balkans to the European Union, which has been stagnating for years.
There are also many problems between the countries in the region, Scholz said on Saturday at the end of the trip. “They are known. But there are no insurmountable problems. ”In the talks he tried to ”contribute to ensuring that everyone comes together“. This is also possible. The Chancellor emphasized “that all the many objections that have built up mutually over many years must be put away so that we can come together”.
This applies to the relationship between North Macedonia and Bulgaria as well as to the relationship between Kosovo and Serbia. “There, too, it is clear that there can only be a common path. And I have the impression that we have made progress.” Not just anyone in Brussels or Berlin can decide what is right, said Scholz. “We can only make a very strong contribution to unblocking processes that have been blocked for years, to ensuring that new dynamics come into play. And I seem to have succeeded.”
In Serbia you might see things differently. There, the Scholz sentence with the “two countries that do not recognize each other” caused outrage. He has now heard for the first time from the EU that “mutual recognition is required,” said a sour Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday at a joint press conference with Scholz. “We don’t react to pressure in this way, where someone threatens us and then you have to do something.” Scholz replied that he only said something that was obvious.
In any case, Serbia is not the only obstacle to Kosovo’s admission to the EU. Even long-established EU members like Spain are against the accession of the youngest European country. There are fears in Spain that Kosovo’s admission to the Union could give the Catalan separatist movement wings in their own country.
In Skopje on Saturday, Scholz again called for the immediate start of EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia, which have so far been blocked by Bulgaria. “The accession negotiations that were firmly promised two years ago must begin now. In any case, I will campaign for it,” said Scholz after a meeting with North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski. “My wish: it should work now.”
Germany is serious about integrating the Western Balkans into the European Union, Scholz reiterated. “The EU is particularly committed to North Macedonia, which has met all the requirements for the start of accession negotiations.” Almost 20 years ago, the six countries were given the prospect of joining the EU. “As the European Union, we also have an obligation to implement and realize the credibility of our own promises”.
Kovacevski made it clear that his country wanted the EU summit in June to confirm the start of accession negotiations. “We expect a step that we deserve.” North Macedonia has made great efforts and reformed the administration and the judiciary. Scholz also acknowledged that the country’s citizens and government had “worked very hard” to clear the way for accession negotiations. Now the harvest should be due for these efforts. Scholz encouraged the country to continue along the reform path it had taken.
At the same time, Scholz acknowledged that North Macedonia fully supports the EU positions and sanctions against Russia. “This is further evidence of how firmly North Macedonia stands on European values and is willing to stand up for them.”
North Macedonia has been an EU accession candidate for 17 years. In July 2020, the EU Commission basically gave the green light for concrete negotiations. However, these are blocked by Bulgaria because of a dispute over historiography and the rights of the Bulgarian minority in North Macedonia.
At his meeting with Scholz, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov later insisted on his country’s preconditions for the start of EU accession talks with North Macedonia. Among other things, the EU would have to guarantee that the Bulgarians living in North Macedonia would be included in the constitution so that their rights would be respected, he said.
Scholz does not want to be dissuaded from all these obstacles. On Saturday he announced increased efforts by the federal government. “The Berlin Process, which has been trying to advance this development for many years, will be revived,” he said in Sofia. “Everyone asked me to do it. We will comply with this demand.”
