site.btaSofia Conference Looks at Prospects for EU Accession of Western Balkans

Prospects for the Western Balkans' accession to the EU were on the agenda of the seventh Western Balkans Conference, organized by the New Direction Foundation at Sofia’s National Palace of Culture on Saturday. The meeting brought together representatives of European institutions, national authorities, academia, NGOs, with the aim of assessing the current state of the EU accession process of Western Balkan countries. Angel Dzhambazki, Vice-President of the New Direction Foundation and MEP Ivaylo Valchev (European Conservatives and Reformists) opened the conference.

Ivaylo Valchev said that he was extremely happy that such a forum was held in Bulgaria, which was a platform for exchange of views. The Western Balkans are more and more at the centre of Europe's attention. Valchev is currently a member of the delegation for the Republic of North Macedonia and I will be a shadow rapporteur for Kosovo and the Republic of North Macedonia.

Angel Dzhambazki said that the countries of the Western Balkans politically, historically, geographically belong to Europe and it is in the interest of all Bulgarians - Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, to one day be part of the EU. “This is definitely and without a doubt our common geopolitical interest. This path is not without problems and it is not cloudless. There are a number of criteria, such as the Copenhagen criteria, which clearly say what should be the path of any country that wants to be an aspiring member and then join the European family,” Dzambazki added. 

Maciej Tyburski, Vice-President of the Warsaw Institute, said that currently the EU enlargement process is at a crossroads. Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia also want to become part of the EU, he noted, and the Western Balkans are a very important region in the whole of Europe in terms of geopolitics. Poland is in favour of EU enlargement. In general, the enlargement process has not been uniform for years, Tyburski said. Candidates need to carry out the reforms to be able to integrate as quickly as possible. In addition to internal reforms, there must be an economic desire for transformation, he said. There is a lot of potential for this in the Balkans, he said. The war in Ukraine gives energy to change some of the accession criteria in a positive direction. The accession of the Western Balkans - will reduce geopolitical tensions, lead to economic growth, new markets, new trade routes. The EU will consolidate its values and have many more opportunities in the region. The Western Balkans are surrounded by EU member states, Tyburski said.
Former MEP Ryszard Czarnecki said that the delay of the membership of Albania, Serbia is perhaps the best gift for Russia. “We can expect Moscow's influence to expand in this important region,” he said. According to Czarnecki, the problem is that the EU has decided to put in “the same pot” the countries of the Western Balkans and countries like Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, where there are occupied territories. In his words, being grouped together with the Eastern Partnership countries a problem for the Western Balkans. “We do not want a situation where problems in the negotiations with Moldova and Georgia become a reason or an excuse for failure of the negotiations with the Western Balkan countries,” he said.

Toshko Yordanov, floor leader of There Is Such a People, stressed the role of historical conditions for the development of the region. Commenting on the start of accession negotiations with North Macedonia, he said that the accession and the start of the accession negotiations were for political reasons. “They were not ready. North Macedonia was not ready to start the negotiations, the signing of the negotiating framework itself came for political reasons because of the war in Ukraine,” Yordanov said. He noted that as part of Bulgaria's government at the time he knew what kind of talks he had with EU representatives. Their motivation was not EU enlargement, their motivation was playing chess with Russia, he added. “As long as this region is seen as pawns that have to be in some geopolitical game, firstly we cannot sort things out among ourselves and secondly the accession of the Western Balkans is getting further and further away,” Yordanov said. 

He also said that with the differences between countries of the region and the lack of understanding by Western partners of the problem here, this process is getting further and further away.

A special participant in the conference was the former rapporteur for Bulgaria in the European Parliament, Geoffrey Van Orden, who pointed out that the countries of the Western Balkans and the nations of Europe share common values and have done a lot for the world, for global prosperity and creativity.