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The enlargement process will resume as soon as the EC is constituted

Danijel Server

I don’t believe the EU will stop the enlargement process. The process is currently on hold, but once the new commission is constituted, I expect the negotiations with the candidates to resume, says Mr Daniel Serwer, expert for the Balkans at the John Hopkins University. He points out that that NATO and the EU cannot be replaced, as they are two powerful forces which provide greater security and prosperity and nobody can beat that.

Mr Serwer Server says that Euro-pessimism is correlated with business circles.

“When the EU economy moves forward, there will be ready to consider the accession of new members”, said Mr Serwer.

Mr Serwer doesn’t think that the fact that Albania and North Macedonia haven’t been given a green light to start negotiations is a proof that Balkans has been removed from the European agenda. For Europe, Balkans is not just an option.

“The Balkans is the heart of Europe. Albania has caused serious problems, but North Macedonia has achieved a lot and I hope it will be keep moving forward. NATO accession is certain for North Macedonia”, pointed out Mr Serwer.

According to him, the only objective of Russia is to keep slowing down or even completely stop NATO and EU enlargement processes. He also spoke about the influence of China and Turkey.

“Moscow has so little positive to offer. If anything. China wants to build infrastructure, which isn’t a bad thing, although the buyer bears the risk. Turkey has been interested in infrastructure agreements foe a long time, but now it’s engaged in providing support to the expansion of political Islam and taking actions against its main enemies in the Gulen movement. Therefore, I think, caution is required here as well”, concluded Mr Serwer.

 

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