English

Montenegro is the only country which could join EU in 2025

Žarko Korać

Montenegro-Serbia relations remain strained and it’s very hard to predict in what direction they are going to move, says in the interview for Pobjeda, Mr Žarko Korać, Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade and former Vice-President of the Government of Serbia. He points out that there are still many open questions in the EU journey.

Commenting on regional relations, Professor Korać says that they improve fast but deteriorate even faster.

“At one moment they are improved, whereas at the other they are diminished. While Mr Ivo Sanader was Croatian Prime Minister, relations between Serbia and Croatia were very stable, even under the rule of Mr Boris Tadić and Mr Ivo Josipović. All of a sudden, everything tuned into a disaster. There are certain improvements in Serbia-Macedonia relations, although very insignificant improvements. In the last two-three months, relations between Serbia and Montenegro have been deteriorating fast with no improvements in sight. Of course, Kosovo is still painful spot in the region”, points out Mr Korać.

He stresses that the future of the region lies in the EU. However, 2025 deadline might be real in case of Montenegro only.

“The reality is that the tempo of the EU membership progress is different. Some countries have already gone far in the negotiation process whereas others haven’t even started it yet. Seems like North Macedonia will become NATO member before it joins the EU, which is absurd. The so called Thessaloniki conference had a very clear conclusion – EU doors are open for all countries in the region. Nothing changed in that context, expect that French president, Mr Emmanuel Macron, and some officials from the Netherlands insisted that there shouldn’t be enlargement until the EU itself is consolidated. Mr Macron pointed out that the EU had to deal with the problems within first”, says Mr Korać.

The deadline set for the region accession is very optimistic and probably intended as encouragement so tzhe parties concerned work harder.

“Montenegro has made greatest progress so far. Montenegro might be close to the achievement of this objective”, concludes Mr Korać.

 

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