Paneuropa supports new push for Western Balkans initiative
Jauernik/Haböck: “Enlargement policy must also be viewed through the lens of security policy. If the EU does not look after the European Western Balkans, other powers will.”
The Paneuropa Movement Austria welcomes the current push by nine EU states, including Austria, to once again devote more attention to the vital region of South-East Europe at the EU level. In a letter to the High Representative Josep Borrell, the foreign ministers of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia call for a “strategic discussion” on the countries of the Western Balkans and their (EU) prospects. From the perspective of the Paneuropa Movement Austria, it is high time to become significantly more active here.
In the view of Philipp Jauernik, South-East Europe expert for Paneuropa Austria, Europe’s emergence as a geopolitical actor demands a bold political offensive: “For far too long, the so-called Western Balkan countries have been repeatedly put off with promises. What is needed here is an offensive EU policy to export stability to this region, which is strategically very important for Europe.” The long-promised visa liberalisation for the citizens of Kosovo is just as much a part of such a policy as a membership perspective for Ukraine.
“The stronger the pressure from the EU, the higher the pressure from the population of these countries on their governments to implement the necessary reform steps – to name the rule of law and the fight against corruption,” says Stefan Haböck, International Secretary of Paneuropa Austria, with conviction.
The Paneuropa Movement Austria demands that the EU states abandon their mental and political blockade against the people of the Western Balkans. Currently, Bulgaria is blocking the start of negotiations with North Macedonia (and thus also Albania), and five states (including Spain) still do not recognise the independence of the Republic of Kosovo for purely domestic political reasons.
Photo credit: © European Union
