The Western Balkans are upset as the enlargement process stalls while Ukraine is granted candidate status.
Karl Nehammer was not available to the public on Thursday: numerous bilateral meetings – including with the presidents of Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia – were on the Chancellor’s agenda before he and his 26 EU counterparts attended the historic summit in the afternoon Council building in Brussels to officially confirm the candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova.
The EU leaders had previously negotiated for almost four hours with the prime ministers of the six Western Balkan countries that were also willing to join – but without any result. A press conference after the meeting was canceled by the EU for “time reasons”. Instead, the representatives of Albania and North Macedonia vented their anger in front of the assembled press. “We still don’t come here as Europeans, but as guests in a divided house,” says Albanian Edi Rama. “For us, Europe is a religion. Europe is not Brussels.” Dimitar Kovačevski from North Macedonia agreed with his counterpart: “I will say it quite frankly: this is a heavy blow to the credibility of the EU. It is time for the Union to fulfill promises before making new ones. We have done everything – now it’s the EU’s turn.”
The record pace of Ukraine and Moldova in the process of rapprochement with the EU had fueled hopes that enlargement could also be pushed ahead in south-eastern Europe. Several member countries, including Austria, wanted to use the momentum and called for concrete progress in the deadlocked accession process with the Western Balkans. “There must be the same rules for everyone. That is a requirement of fairness and the credibility of the EU,” emphasized Nehammer. In interviews, he had recently set himself a clear condition for his yes to Ukraine’s candidate status: Bosnia, which had applied for accession in 2016, must finally be given candidate status, the ÖVP politician demanded.