The objectives of the Summit according to an EU statement which as AFP said does not mention the words “membership” or “enlargement”, but Croatia managed to keep enlargement in the EU’s focus, the participants in the event and background information in this report by Argumentum
TIRANA – The European perspective, the commitment of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union and cooperation in the coronavirus crisis are the key elements of a declaration that will be adopted at the central event of the Croatian EU presidency in Zagreb on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said on Tuesday as quoted by HINA news agency.
On the initiative of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the summit of the 27 EU member states and the six Western Balkan countries, scheduled for May 6, will be held online in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Cooperation in dealing with the pandemic, giving the Western Balkan countries the European perspective and these countries’ commitment to European values” are the key elements of the Zagreb Declaration, Grlić Radman told the press outside the government offices.
He recalled that North Macedonia and Albania had been given the green light on their path to EU membership which he said was “a great Croatian success”.
Zagreb will again host a summit on the European perspective of Southeast Europe, just as it did 20 years ago when Croatia was not yet a member of the EU. The next summit was held in Thessaloniki in 2003 and the last one took place two years ago in Sofia.
The Croatian EU Presidency has proposed that summits on European integration be held every two years, Grlić Radman said.
“Not all EU members are equally interested in enlargement. There is still talk of what the future will bring with new members, but Croatia has shown the initiative in this regard,” he said.
In an announcement on Tuesday the press office of the European Council dwelt on the summit’s objectives. It is said that the EU is the most important partner of the Western Balkans region and the video conference will underline the significance of the unique EU-Western Balkans relations.
“In the fight against COVID-19, the European Union and the Western Balkans are united. The summit will provide an opportunity to highlight mutual solidarity and cooperation in these times of crisis. Partners in the region have contributed to help EU member states while the European Union has mobilised over €3.3 billion to help Western Balkans deal with the coronavirus crisis,” said the announcement.
The leaders will also reaffirm the European perspective of the Western Balkans and the commitment of the Western Balkans partners to uphold European values and principles.
But as AFP said on Tuesday an EU statement outlining the meeting’s objectives does not mention the words “membership” or “enlargement”.
Last October, France and the Netherlands sparked outrage by insisting on redrawing the accession process before agreeing to begin talks with Skopje and Tirana. That move dented EU credibility in the region, where many viewed the bloc as failing to keep promises to Skopje and Tirana, despite significant reforms on their part. In March they were given the green light but a concrete start date has not yet been set for negotiations likely to drag on for years. Some fear the coronavirus pandemic has pushed the issue even further down the agenda.
“The enlargement issue is now very low on the list of EU priorities,” said Croatian political analyst Senada Selo Sabic as quoted by AFP, noting it had not been high to begin with.
During the first informal meeting with the Western Balkan partners in Brussels on 16 February 2020, President of the European Council Charles Michel stressed the EU’s commitment in the region. “We must deepen our strategic cooperation on issues like climate change, multilateralism and foreign policy.”
The leaders will also exchange views on the new phase of close cooperation to tackle the significant socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the importance of regional cooperation, as well as how to best manage security challenges.
The EU-Western Balkans summit, which will be chaired by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel representing the EU together with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will bring together heads of state or government from EU member states, leaders from the six Western Balkans partners: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia and Kosovo.
Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia, which currently holds the presidency of the Council, Josep Borrell, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, David Sassoli, the President of the European Parliament, representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, the European investment Bank and the Regional Cooperation Council will also participate.
After the summit a press conference will take place, with Presidents Michel, von der Leyen and Prime Minister Plenković.
Croatia’s efforts to keep the fledgeling enlargement process on the radar were not lost on the Western Balkans region. Srdjan Majstorović, the head of Belgrade-based European Policy Centre think thank, said as quoted by Euractive.com on Tuesday that “we need to give due credit to Croatia as the presiding country, for securing the consensus of EU27 on the new methodology and the opening of talks, and for organising the summit despite the difficult circumstances.”
“With this, it managed to keep enlargement in the EU’s focus,” Majstorović said in emailed comments.
In order to avoid controversies on Kosovo’s status, which is not recognized by five EU countries, all leaders will sit in front of a neutral background without symbols of states and names of their respective countries, according to reports quoted by Gazeta Express on Tuesday. Only the name of participants will appear on the screen. this format was agreed at Spain’s explicit request ”that does not want to attend meetings in which Kosovo is presented as an independent State”. For the same reason, in the final statement the expression ”partners in the western Balkans” is used to avoid the word ”states”. Along with Spain, Kosovo’s independence is not recognized in the EU by Romania, Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia. The Republic of Kosovo will be represented in the Summit by President Hashim Thaci.
The previous EU-Western Balkans summit took place on 17 May 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria. It brought together the heads of state or government from EU member states and leaders from the six Western Balkans partners. EU leaders agreed on the Sofia declaration, with which the Western Balkans partners have aligned themselves. They also adopted the Sofia priority agenda, as an annex to the declaration and outlined new measures for enhanced cooperation with the region. /argumentum.al
