Western Balkans needs EU action, not visits of high officials in June and July, or what we call integration tourism, said the President of the European movement in Montenegro, Momčilo Radulović, while talking on Bled Strategic forum.
He said that approach of the EU towards Western Balkans is wrong.
“Their approach is ‘don’t do what we do, do what we tell you to do’. I feel double standards and hypocrisy. We are tired of games. Yes, we know that we have problems. But everybody has them, right? You tell us that we should share European values. I agree. In my country and in countries of Western Balkans we do share such values, but I’m not sure about whether some of European countries do the same”, said Radulović.
He wonders whether the EU is pro-European.
“Are all the governments of Member States are pro-European oriented? I’m not sure about that. There are governments where neo -Nazis sit. I won’t mention them by name, but you know what is going on in some countries. Are they a good example? No. We want to look up to positive examples, but they also aren’t great”, said Radulović.
He admits that Montenegro is faced with corruption but so is the case with in EU countries. At this moment, the enlargement policy can be described like this: fear, no leadership and no vision. As far as double standards and hypocrisy are concerned, Radulović takes banking system as an example.
“We are not good enough for the EU. How do you explain the fact that 95% of banking system of the entire Western Balkans lies in hands of the EU. We are not good enough for the EU, but our money is. Secondly, all great corruption scandals, related to banks, are connected to foreign citizens who used to manage those banks in our country”, said Radulović.
