Why Ukraine is helping the Balkans: joining the European Union to fend off Russian influence

Why Ukraine is helping the Balkans: joining the European Union to fend off Russian influence

The expansion policy has never been stable. It has always had its ups and downs, phases in which it has played a more or less important role, phases in which it needs to be reinforced and phases in which it must remain at bay. We are now in a new momentum of expansion policy, due to several important factors.

Firstly, The war in Ukraine. After Russian aggression, it became clear howEuropean Union He was transferred (or personally involved?) and he had to look for alternative solutions so as not to lose his balance in foreign policy. The solution was called: Enlargement Policy.

Now, that is obviously using Twenty-seven member states twenty-seven different foreign policies, The European Union has a structural problem, as a global player. He is unable to give one one answer, He will always give several; This is how it works, above all because in foreign policy at the European level you vote withconsensus. Therefore, we surrender to the blackmail of countries that want to preserve their sovereignty in the field of foreign policy.

But in the case of Ukraine, they were able to put this way of acting aside and convince each other that the challenge was too great for them to leave that country. And so it gave a new impetus to one of them expansion policy Forgotten and left for a long time.

Ukraine has made it possible to address an issue that has been hidden for a long time: an issue European Union reforms, of the internal change, necessary to then be able to welcome new members as well. He revived the policy that stood comment.

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Of course, it remains to be seen if you will Balkans They will be ready to accept this new challenge. But as far as it can be seen, the North Macedonia (With changes to the Constitution imposed by Bulgaria and finally accepted) fAlbania I’m really on the right track.

At this point a (in my opinion essential) question automatically arises: Will it be possible not to forget the Balkans and not put them in the background, and instead counteract this momentum by putting Ukraine alongside them? Would it be possible to avoid having two processes running in parallel, one faster and one slower? Only if this is possible, that we avoid making mistakes and avoid further isolating the Balkan countries, which, after decades (and more) spent trying to adapt to the European Union, are already trying discontent These differences in treatment.

In my opinion, addressing the enlargement by separating Ukraine (justified), Moldova And Georgia (Unjustified in my opinion, considering their level of complete unpreparedness, their level of corruption and the dire economic situation) and Balkans (which had been waiting for decades) risks not only creating more frustration in the Balkans, but also leaving this region under the powerful influence of Russia.

And the Balkans are our neighbors. We don’t want to risk it. In addition, some countries deserve progress on their way: Albania and North Macedonia are negotiating, and the black Mountain also , Kosovo It has implemented several reforms and as the only country that does not have candidate status, it will have the right to receive it (for this, however, the EU must remove sanctions against it even if it would be given to Serbia).

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Ukraine can help the Balkans only if the member states understand that it isopportunities for them, too. It’s a political issue. It would be a great gesture if at least one of the Balkan countries joined with Ukraine. It will give hope for the future of our neighbors, and give impetus to the entire Balkan region. As well as strengthening the European Union.

I was born in Trento, graduated in Political Science at the University of Innsbruck, I have an MA in European Studies (Freie Universität Berlin and College of Europe Natolin) with a major in European History and a thesis for a degree in War Crimes and Clarification of the Past in Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am particularly passionate about the Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where I lived for six months and also learned the Bosnian language.

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