ALPBACH – Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg underlined the geopolitical necessity of EU enlargement to the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova in an interview for Policy’The “UE Confidential” podcast. He proposed the abandonment of binary thinking on enlargement and the gradual inclusion of candidate countries in specific policy areas and institutions.
The podcast was recorded at the annual European Forum in Alpbach and broadcast on Friday. During the interview, Schallenberg emphasized that the European Union’s geopolitical litmus test is its neighborhood.
“Are we capable, as the European Union, of exporting stability, or do we want to run the risk of importing instability and insecurity? And I’m not just talking about Ukraine and Moldova. Vienna is located in the very center of this continent and our geopolitical seismograph does not only start in the east. Five hundred kilometers south of Vienna are the Western Balkans. The region that is not Europe’s backyard is Europe’s backyard. And our main task is also to secure this region,” the minister said.
He said he believed it was now time to be bold and change the EU’s approach to enlargement and clearly integrate each of the six Western Balkan countries, Ukraine and Moldova, in the EU family.
Schallenberg recalled that twenty years ago the Western Balkans were promised in Thessaloniki that they would become full members of the EU.
“Twenty years later, nothing has changed. And we have to recognize that Russia has the power to disrupt the situation, it can very easily shake things up. It is our duty to pacify and stabilize this region and to walk the talk. We promised them full membership, but we have not acted on it,” he said.
What is needed now, Schallenberg said, is to understand that enlargement is not a bureaucratic or legislative endeavour, adding that he was happy to see many capitals understand this.
“It is not a question of applying every comma and every paragraph of the Community acquis. It’s about exporting and safeguarding a certain model of life. Free, open, Western democracies,” Schallenberg said.
According to the Austrian Foreign Minister, the EU should also leave behind binary thinking: either you are not a member or you are a full member.
“I believe we can have opt-ins. We can have member countries without implementing every part of the Community acquis. For example, after signing your accession treaty, tradition dictates that you become an observer on the Council. But this is not something written in the treaties. This is something we have adopted and developed over the past decades. Why not actually do it now? Why not cede to the Political and Security Committee, where we develop our foreign policy, the possibility for certain member states to attend as observers?,” Schallenberg said.
He also proposed including them in areas such as EU research policy, Horizon Europe and trans-European networks, provided they can apply the acquis communautaire and there is a minimum guarantee of judicial review .
“Why do we always say: nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and until then you are not a member? We can’t wait. Because if we wait, we risk losing this region. And it’s a geostrategic thing. We need to get our act together,” Schallenberg said.
He recalled that before the summer he had created the “Friends of the Western Balkans” group.
“What I want to avoid is putting Ukraine on the fast track and other countries on the service line. It would be, geostrategically, a disaster. We must be very careful, as the European Union, not to create this impression in the Western Balkans,” the minister said.