BELGRADE – The final panel of this year’s Belgrade Security Conference was dedicated to the European integration process. The panel titled “A Bigger and Better EU: 20 Years After the Thessaloniki Summit” brought together experts from Serbia, Ukraine, Montenegro and the head of the EU delegation to Serbia. The panel was moderated by Milica Delević, Director of Competitiveness, Governance and Policy Affairs at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Milica Delević began the panel by saying that the process of European integration of this region has taken a very long time and, before the war in Ukraine, it seemed that the Western Balkan countries and the EU had lost their enthusiasm to pursue it. But in new circumstances, “enlargement has acquired a new urgency, a new meaning and a new purpose,” Delević emphasized.
Panelists discussed what this would mean for the European Union, for the Western Balkans and for new candidate countries, such as Ukraine. Speaking about the Ukrainian path to the EU, Tetyana Kovtunexecutive director of the Reform Implementation Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, said that this was an existential question for her country.
“Support for EU membership is 91% in Ukraine across all regions, which is unprecedented,” Kovtun said, adding that Ukraine is extremely interested in seeing the EU as a geopolitical answer to the current war of aggression. Although Ukraine is still in its infancy, she recalled that it has already received 7 basic conditions – on issues such as rule of law, governance, judiciary, media, fight against corruption and legislation on national minorities – for the opening of negotiations with the EU. the war has started and today we are waiting for the first report on EU enlargement, hoping to start negotiations next December.
Emmanuel Giaufret, The Ambassador and Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Serbia stressed that since the Thessaloniki Summit in 2003, the issue of enlargement has never been so important, due to the circumstances in Ukraine .
“Enlargement is a strategic decision aimed at strengthening the European Union, but it is a process based on merit,” he added. “Two questions must be addressed in parallel: the more the candidate countries show determination in implementing reforms, the more the pace of internal (EU) reforms accelerates and vice versa. »
However, Giaufret suggested that enlargement is also a people issue and is needed in the Western Balkans to regenerate the support that previously existed for this process. “We will achieve this if citizens and decision-makers understand the precise moment we live in,” said the head of the EU delegation to Serbia.
Asked about a new impetus in the European integration process, while enlargement is on the table, Jovana Marovic, member of BiEPAG and former Minister of European Affairs, said that for and in the Western Balkans, this dynamic currently means that things are business as usual. It has not yet seen the desire of political elites to seize a new window of opportunity.
However, Marović suggested that EU strengthening and enlargement processes could and should go hand in hand, with the Western Balkans being the first to serve as a case study for the EU to test new democratic tools and improve democracy. “Change cannot happen through economics, fundamentals come first and we have to start with that,” Marović emphasized.
She also referred to another discussion in the context of the enlargement process, which has been going on for at least ten years, regarding the date of accession, saying that it is not possible to have a deadline, but that it is possible to have 2030 as a target date. so that States have a clear roadmap. “For example, Montenegro may be ready to join by 2030,” concluded Jovana Marović.
Responding to a question on relations between old and new candidate countries, she said there is a process of enlargement, adding that countries engaged in the same process should help each other, including the most recent candidate countries. recent ones, such as Ukraine.
Vladimir Medakvice-president of the European Movement in Serbia, believes on the contrary that the change within the EU is obvious and that things are getting serious.
“For the first time, someone mentioned the date as a deadline, without which we cannot have roadmaps; for the first time we have an analysis of the budgetary impact of the future enlargement,” said Međak. However, he added, “the way enlargement was carried out in the previous cycle no longer works today and we need to think of something new.”
Vladimir Međak also noticed that Serbian citizens do not really see any changes in the EU’s approach, due to the information contained in the regime-controlled media. He said that the reduction of support for EU membership in Serbia is propagated by Serbian political elites.
“Serbia could have already been ready to join the EU, in terms of political, economic criteria and approximation of legislation, but this is not due to lack of political will and the responsibility is on our side,” Međak said. He referred to Article 2 of the TEU, which sets out the values on which the EU is based, and concluded that Serbia now has problems in all aspects, which are the result of the government’s choices.
The panelists also discussed what countries in the region should do to build on the momentum and realize this enlargement prospect, mentioning the main obstacles and allies in the process.
Jovana Marović said that support for the EU is very high in Montenegro and that European integration is part of the programs of all political parties. However, “we need to see from the European Union concrete measures, concrete benefits and concrete integration of the Western Balkans in certain policies – to establish a link between incentives and benefits,” Marović said.
“Roadmaps, deadlines and progress of benefits are something that can change things,” acknowledged Vladimir Međak, but also added that countries like Serbia must do their part of the work. But in this specific situation, according to Međak, Serbia’s only ally for the future of European integration is geopolitics, because in all other areas Serbia has marked a step backwards. He highlighted issues such as the rule of law, alignment with the EU’s common foreign policy and conflict resolution as prerequisites for Serbia, noting that Serbia’s position in these categories has been deteriorated in recent years.