the question of Albania and Serbia joining the EU

Every day, the correspondents’ club describes how the same news story is illustrated in several countries. This Thursday, we are interested in the enlargement of the European Union for the Balkan countries.

On Thursday December 14 and Friday December 15, the heads of state and government of the 27 member countries of the European Union will meet in Brussels for a summit. There is talk of aid to Ukraine and the accession of new countries.

In the Balkan region, there is a country which is firmly awaiting further enlargement, that is Albania. For this country, the road to the European Union is still long. The democratic culture is still quite weak there, and important reforms are still expected to fight organized crime and grand corruption, but also to guarantee freedom of expression and property rights.

Albania’s pro-Western position makes it a good student

The country applied to join the European Union in 2009, but negotiations have struggled to open. Countries like France or the Netherlands vetoed it, which was particularly badly received in this Albanian society which is deeply pro-European. Albania then had to wait for Bulgaria to lift its own veto on North Macedonia, since the two countries’ candidacies were linked. Accession negotiations finally opened in July 2022.

In the current context of war and international tensions, Albania’s pro-Western position makes it one of the good students of the European Union. Because unlike Serbia, Albania, which is also a member of NATO, firmly supports Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia. These positions have recently been rewarded since several European summits have taken place in recent months in Tirana.

Brussels criticizes Serbia for not sanctioning Russia

In Serbia, membership in the European Union is a stated objective of the government, but in reality, it is not implementing any reforms. President Aleksandar Vucic’s party, in power for eleven years, has been particularly ineffective in its policy of joining the European Union. Media close to power present Europe as a problem, rather than a goal to be achieved.

For its part, the European Union criticizes Serbia for stalling in terms of the rule of law, freedom of expression, independence of the media, the functioning of democratic institutions and the fight against corruption.

Above all, Belgrade is dragging its feet in normalizing its relations with Kosovo, a country whose independence Serbia does not recognize. Finally, Brussels criticizes Serbia for not sanctioning Russia for its war against Ukraine. Serbia’s way of managing these two points of foreign policy is seen as a risk of destabilization by the Europeans.