EU Leaders Reaffirm Western Balkans' 'European Perspective,' Give No Timeline For Accessions
According to RFE/RL, EU leaders have reaffirmed the bloc's commitment to the stalled enlargement process for six Western Balkans states, but they brushed aside calls for a concrete timeline at a summit in Slovenia on October 6.
The European Commission has repeatedly said the future of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia lies in the 27-member bloc. But divisions among EU states about taking in new members and the slow pace of reform in the six hopefuls has put enlargement on ice for years.
"In all frankness, there is discussion among the 27 about our capacity to take in new members," European Council President Charles Michel told a news conference following the one-day summit between Balkan and EU leaders in Slovenia.
In a joint declaration, the EU leaders said that the bloc "reaffirms its unequivocal support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans and welcomes the commitment of the Western Balkans partners to the European perspective."
Several EU members led by France have held up the enlargement process out of concern about further expanding the bloc with less-developed states with weak institutions. The club has brought in 13 countries since 2004, most of them less-wealthy former communist states, causing expansion fatigue among some members. Croatia was the last nation to join the EU when its accession was completed in 2013.
Western Balkan countries are at different stages of integrating with the bloc.
Montenegro and Serbia are the most advanced, having opened accession negotiations and chapters. Albania and North Macedonia are awaiting the official opening of accession talks, while Bosnia and Kosovo are potential candidate countries.
Addressing the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that the Western Balkan countries belong in the EU.
"We want them in the European Union, we are one European family," she said. "We share the same history, we share the same values, and I'm deeply convinced we share the same destiny too."
French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need to show the region's countries that they are on a short-term path toward the EU.
"Our wish is to give the Balkans a [European] perspective again in the short-term," Macron told reporters after the summit, saying that would help European stability.
