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It is time to get the Western Balkans’ EU integration back on track, says Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. In an article published in ‘Politico’ while the summit on the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) is being held in Greece, the chief executive in Athens calls for concrete steps and says that the EU must ensure within 2033, the integration of six Western Balkan countries in what he called “an ambitious but necessary step”.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given a new sense of urgency to link Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, northern Macedonia, Bosnia and Kosovo closer to the 27 EU member states, in part to responding to the growing Russian and Chinese influence in the region.
“Today’s meetings come less than two weeks after the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels and the European Council, where important decisions can be made about the region and the future of the bloc. And the Balkans, as many times before in its history, stands again on the front line of competing spheres of influence, and ominous oscillations can be felt beneath the surface. “For this reason, it is time for the EU to be honest with itself and with the region.”said Mitsotakis.
The bloc, says Mitsotakis, must prove that when it presents a vision, it has the intention and capacity to pursue it to the end. And the vision of EU accession for the region, the article continues, has become “unclear, fading in the eyes of frustrated and disappointed citizens”, while the enlargement of the European Union has stalled in recent years due to security concerns, governance and immigration.
My message today is clear, says Mitsotakis, in accordance with the set criteria, let’s offer the integration of the entire Western Balkans into the EU by 2033, which is overdue, and the first step should be a decision within two weeks in Brussels, to unblock the road of Northern Macedonia and Albania.
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