The risk is not that the Western Balkans are heading towards a Chinese Eldorado. This is because the region will sink – socially, economically, democratically – under the weight of the epidemic and the realities it has revealed.
In addition to the devastating socio-economic costs generated by closed borders, societal lockdowns and the indirect effects of the coming global depression, the pandemic has revealed the fragility of the Western Balkans state system – and the need for external partners of the region if it wants to survive.
This is an opportunity that the EU cannot miss.
The coronavirus is reshaping the geopolitical landscape. Globalization won’t go away, but it will lead to more redundancies and shorter supply chains. The post-pandemic recovery will likely see a world in which regions turn inward or look towards their nearest neighbors. And, in a more regionalized world, the Western Balkans can only side with the EU – and possibly belong to it.
Fortunately, the EU has once again realized the strategic importance of the region. After an embarrassing mistake last fall, when EU leaders briefly questioned the bloc’s enlargement policy, things are back on track.
The EU has agreed to open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia. And ahead of the Zagreb virtual summit, the Commission allocated €3.3 billion to the region to address the immediate health and humanitarian needs of COVID-19, as well as its longer-term socio-economic impacts. It also provided the region with privileged access to EU programs, signaling both concretely and symbolically that the Western Balkans are one family.
if ( document.referrer.indexOf( document.domain )