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TIRANA — Although the fact that the EU-Western Balkans summit is being held for the first time in the region is a nice symbolic gesture, the summit will not bring any substantial progress because the agenda is loaded with regular topics, said Aleksandra Tomanić, Executive Director of the European Balkan Fund (EFF) in a interview for the Albanian daily ahead of the Summit, which is to be held in Tirana on December 6.
Tomanić expressed doubts that the EU-Western Balkans summit will bring new developments on the EU accession paths of Western Balkan countries or that we will hear political messages that were not heard during of the last 20 years, because the agenda mainly concerns “regular subjects, such as the economy, the Green Agenda, migration, but nothing new in substance.”
She recalled that in 2023 the Western Balkan countries will celebrate 20 years of the Thessaloniki Summit, during which they were promised a European perspective, but that these 20 years are “lost opportunities and disappointed illusions”.
Asked about the influence of the war in Ukraine on a possible acceleration of the enlargement process, Tomanić said that she was not in favor of rapid accession, because the Western Balkan countries are not ready nor have they completed the transformation required by the membership process. She warned of democratic backsliding, media freedom, human rights and the rule of law in countries in the region.
“All our societies need this tool and this transformation. We need real states, states that prioritize the well-being of their citizens, with functioning institutions and justice systems. Then we can discuss membership,” Tomanić emphasized in the interview.
The EFB director also reflected on the transformation the EU needs to successfully complete enlargement. She expressed concern about the lack of attention given to the issue of the EU’s institutional absorptive capacity, which constitutes the main obstacle to enlargement.
However, Tomanić warned, none of the Western Balkan countries are close to meeting the membership criteria, especially the political criteria.
“It’s our fault for not being ready, and we have absolutely no right to be angry at the EU for not doing its homework, because we haven’t done ours no more,” Tomanić told the Albanian daily Daily News.
On the issue of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, Tomanić called the dialogue a lack of transparency and explained that “the constant threat of escalation and violence represents the pure political failure of the parties involved.” She added that the need for international pressure to defuse the situation “speaks to local political maturity.
“Citizens are on the losing side. Imagine the uncertainty and fear of citizens of Kosovo, especially in the north, in the days before the repeated postponement? What we need is a citizen-centered process, in which their needs are clearly prioritized,” Tomanić said in the interview.
She also said that the length of the visa liberalization process for Kosovo is inexplicable, as is the new requirement to implement the European Travel Information System before Kosovo citizens can travel visa-free.
Reflecting on the relationship between the Open Balkans initiative and the Berlin process, Tomanić said that if all the agreements of the Berlin process were implemented, which might not be the case, “then the open Balkans would indeed be obsolete”. She stressed the importance of inclusion in regional cooperation and said she saw the Open Balkans initiative as “more about marketing than content.”
“There are so many established formats and structures for true regional cooperation that the only thing missing is political will, as evidenced by this semi-regional cooperation under the Open Balkans initiative,” Tomanić concluded.
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