TIRANA, Aug. 5 – The Western Balkans will not gain any speed on their path to EU membership, based on comments the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made in an interview with the news website Politico.eu.
“I’m not in favor of the western Balkans joining the EU soon,” Juncker said. “But if you take away the European perspective, then we will again experience what we experienced in the 1990s. In this respect, the stability of the composition of the European Union is a prerequisite for the Balkans not being at war again.”
It is not the first time Junker has made such comments about the region, but his latest statement makes it clear there will be no fast forward for the region even as domestic and international tensions bubble to the surface.
Several regional leaders, including Prime Minister Edi Rama, have been vocal in their complaint that the European Union is so preoccupied with its internal crisis, even concrete progress in the region is not getting the recognition it once did in Brussels.
Albania hopes to open negotiations for membership in the bloc early next year, but the opening could be delayed again pending progress and the mood in the EU capital. Actual membership could take a decade or more, experts believe. The EU refuses to give a date.
Junker made the comments as part of a wide ranging interview for the online magazine, repeating his previous stance that there would be a lot of time required before the EU would engage in another enlargement round. He did not give a specific timeframe.
Junker added he hoped U.S. President Donald Trump understood the issue as he goes on with comments against the EU in light of Brexit.
Junker also made as series of other comments, including on Greece, claiming he had helped to save the Eurozone.
“If the Commission had not ensured that Greece was not expelled from the eurozone in 2015, the balance would be less good,” Juncker said. “At the time, I fought hard for the stability of the Eurogroup, in particular for Greece [against the wishes of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schà¤uble]. If I hadn’t done that, the eurozone would have decayed.”
