Paneuropa Backs Schallenberg’s Push
Enlargement is the only viable strategic future for the EU, Austria, and Southeast Europe.
The Paneuropa Movement Austria welcomes Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg’s latest initiative regarding EU enlargement. “Enlargement policy must also be viewed from a security policy perspective. These errors are particularly evident in Southeast Europe, even in a small area,” reminds Karl von Habsburg, President of the Paneuropa Movement Austria. “Consider the influence of Russia, Turkey, China, or even Saudi Arabia in the region. The longer Europe holds back, the stronger non-European influences will become.”
The Paneuropean therefore criticises, in particular, those actors who pit enlargement against so-called deepening and refuse to admit new countries until certain policy areas are harmonised. “This rejection of enlargement and this pitting of enlargement against deepening is a dangerous political error. For there are other actors in world politics who will advance into every vacuum that Europe leaves behind.”
From the perspective of Youth Chairman Philipp Jauernik, Europe’s emergence as a geopolitical actor demands a courageous enlargement offensive towards Southeast Europe. “For far too long, the so-called Western Balkan countries have been repeatedly put off with promises. The EU needs an offensive policy here to export stability to this strategically vital region for Europe.”
The stronger the pressure from an EU foreign policy, the greater the pressure from the populations of these countries on their governments to implement the necessary reforms – to name the rule of law and the fight against corruption – argues Jauernik. The long-promised visa liberalisation for Kosovan citizens is as much a part of such a policy as a membership perspective for Ukraine.
