The accession of the countries of the Western Balkans to the European Union must be accelerated. This was announced on Saturday, February 19, by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Munich Security Conference.
“It is not enough to call the prospect of expanding this region a strategic goal. We must actively promote it,” Scholz said.
In addition, Scholz noted that Ukraine’s accession to NATO will not happen in the near future. According to him, at present this issue “is not on the agenda.”
The same opinion about the accession of the countries of the Western Balkans to the European Union was expressed last September by ex-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. According to her, this is of great geostrategic interest for the EU. She explained that she considers six states of the region as future EU members – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and the self-proclaimed Kosovo. According to the former chancellor of Germany, these countries “have a long way to go in order to become members of the European Union.”
On September 1 last year, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the issue of the republic’s accession to the European Union depends on the country’s relations with the self-proclaimed Kosovo. Serbia received the official status of an EU candidate country on March 1, 2012. In December 2013, the EU Council approved the decision to start negotiations on Serbia’s accession to the organization; in January 2014, the first intergovernmental conference was held in Brussels.
Kiev signed an association agreement with the EU in 2014. The document came into full force in 2016. In August 2021, European Commission Vice President and European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis said that Ukraine’s membership in the European Union in the coming years is hardly possible. According to him, the country’s accession to the European Union is, first of all, a political issue. He, as stressed by the European Commissioner, must be unanimously supported by all EU member states.
The Munich Security Conference takes place from 18 to 20 February. In total, about 35 heads of state and government, about a hundred ministers of foreign policy and defense departments, and leaders of the UN, NATO and the EU will gather in the capital of Bavaria. This year, Russian officials do not take part in this event. The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, explained this decision with a number of “various reasons” for Russia.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
