What advances and set-backs have there been in the EU's enlargement towards the Western Balkans? MEPs and a leading expert debate the challenges and the stakes involved.

Western Balkans: the road to the EU

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/11912691/d001-0053-enx.srt

Hello and welcome to the Debate,  presented jointly in the EP in Brussels

by EuroparlTV and Nova TV from  the Balkans, with me, Paul Anderson...

We'll be discussing  the challenges, setbacks, successes,

even though sometimes they're hard to see,

of the EU's enlargement  towards the Western Balkans.

The new Commission President,  Jean-Claude Juncker,

has said no new members under his watch,

With us in the studio are Ivo Vajgl  from Slovenia, a Liberal MEP,

and Eduard Kukan from Slovakia,  who's from the European People's Party.

And from the Socialists, Miltiadis Kyrkos,

and from the University of Graz,  Florian Bieber,

who is also the coordinator for the Balkans  in Europe Policy Advisory Group,

a project of the European Fund  for the Balkans.

Let's start with you, Florian,  and set the scene.

The Balkans aren't often  in the news headlines these days.

Today we have progress reports  from all six aspirant Balkan countries:

Serbia, Montenegro,  former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

If it's possible,  can you give us a pencil sketch

of what, in your view, the biggest advances  are in the accession process,

and also what the biggest obstacles are?

We have two countries in talks - Serbia  and Montenegro. That is major progress,

that there is a continuous enlargement  process, and the talks really matter.

But we have three countries, I would say,  which face serious problems.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has  internal problems, political blockades.

There were recent elections and so we see  little progress towards the EU and reforms.

Kosovo has the challenge that it is not  recognised by five EU Member States.

That potentially blocks its membership  of the EU down the road,

although there are internal problems.  It hasn't had a government for months.

Finally Macedonia has an unresolved  name dispute with Greece,

and has resulted in an increasingly  authoritarian tendency within the country.

Then we have a regional picture  of countries

which in many ways  see the EU moving away from them.

As a result elites are less and less  committed to EU enlargement.

19 years after the Dayton Agreement  and Bosnia is still an open question.

The prospects for Bosnia are still not clear.  What's the problem with Bosnia?

Partly it's Bosnia's institutional setup,

which creates elites  that are not accountable.

because everybody's in power  somewhere in Bosnia.

You can't throw out politicians as easily  and punish them for not governing you well.

didn't really bring about a large-scale  change of politics in Bosnia.

It was hoped that the federation  and the different ethnic entities

would come together  more closely within Bosnia

and create a model which was  against the way things had been

during the programme of ethnic cleansing  and during the war.

but I want to stress that  after the latest elections

I still think there is a ray of hope  for the country,

because it's clearly falling back  in the process.

It's lagging behind all other countries  in the region.

But recently there have been several  meaningful initiatives to correct this.

I mean the joint letter of the foreign  ministers of Germany and the UK,

which contained  some new, very original ideas

about how to change the situation,  and some other initiatives.

Now I think they are going to be streamlined  into one position of the whole EU.

Commissioner Hahn and High Rep  Mogherini are travelling to Sarajevo,

so I think this is now the chance  for the political elite of Bosnia

to show that they are interested  in a European future.

I think that Europe  should be more ambitious.

The European Union should try to come up  with a common plan, a common initiative.

I think that High Representative Mogherini  is showing this will and interest.

And she has the knowledge.  Now it depends on how much initiative

the Member States and their ministers  will allow her.

I think... And I will stop after saying this.

allows real reformation and modernisation  of Bosnian and Herzegovinian society.

It doesn't work. The Dayton Agreement  was good to stop the war.

It is not a framework  to build up a modern state.

Mr Kyrkos, if you look at the election  results and see the consolidation

of the entrenched positions  that were first established under Dayton,

or what pathway out of these elites  and out of this existing system exists?

I'm not an optimist in that I can see  any way out in Bosnia.

The entrenchments, as you refer to them,  are very strong,

and the position there is,  in my opinion, very difficult.

That is not the case  for the rest of the Western Balkans.

We must not forget that these countries,  as the professor explained,

are already on their way to the EU  either by being members-to-be,

or in having specific problems to solve  before becoming members.

So it is a process that must be encouraged.

What about Serbia? We saw recently  an open dilemma in Serbia

over whether to go towards the East  or to stay with Europe.

It's a gamble of elites. They're saying, 'If you  don't treat us better, we'll look to Russia.'

I think statements like that from Milo  Đukanović and by the Serbian government

are suggesting that  they want to keep good ties with Russia,

because that is popular in their countries,

and to put pressure on the EU.  Russia isn't a real alternative in the region.

It's not a real player.  It can't really have the influence.

Let's not forget the Western Balkans  are surrounded by the EU and by NATO.

But Russia can create trouble  if it wants to do so.

Western Balkans: the road to the EU

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