On Monday, March 28th, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the EU’s attention to the neglected Western Balkans. He insisted that talks on Albania’s and North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union must begin as soon as possible. If delayed, the region will fall vulnerable to outside influence. The path towards the Western Balkans’ EU membership has been concerningly slow for the last three decades. Austria, a country historically invested in the region’s EU indoctrination, drew American President Joe Biden’s attention to the region during a European Summit.
On Thursday, 24, and Friday, March 25th, 2022, a European Summit was held in Brussels, and many world leaders expressed similar concern for the Western Balkans. Though not officially on the agenda, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer brought the Western Balkans to discussion, insisting, “Measures [must be taken] to ensure that the Western Balkans do not become a sphere of influence of the Russian Federation or other great powers such as the People’s Republic of China.”
Indeed, there is a worry about resurging tensions in the Western Balkans. Growing resentments within Bosnia and Herzegovina and between Serbia and Kosovo are of particular concern, and the war in Ukraine could exacerbate these long-running divisions. Nehammer expressed particular concern for the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and insisted that Biden and fellow EU leaders protect the regions against “destabilizing influences.” He elaborated that measures must be taken “to ensure that the Western Balkans do not become a sphere of influence of the Russian Federation or other great powers such as the People’s Republic of China.”
Even before the war in Ukraine, Russia’s disinformation campaigns seeking to weaken the EU’s influence in the region were rampant and ignored by EU leaders. These campaigns exploited the hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic and have dangerously increased since the war on Ukraine began. It is incredibly worrying that European powers continue to ignore the vulnerability of their backyard – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo. There is a history of absent long-term policy toward these countries that have increased their susceptibility to Russia and China’s reach, even before the war in Ukraine.
There is also an underlying economic component to the region’s destabilization that has not received sufficient attention. The lack of job opportunities and market reform has forced young people to leave the region, and corruption to run rampant. Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov described the corruption as “the instrument of [Vladimir] Putin in the Balkans.” He elaborated at the Summit, “This is the instrument: Putin works with the political elites, he makes them pay national money for his projects, and you do it via corruption schemes. This, it appears, is an instrument Putin has been using to attain his geopolitical goals across the Balkans.”
This legacy of neglect must come to an end. The war in Ukraine exacerbates the underlying economic and ethnic tension in the Western Balkans, and the EU’s sustained inaction on these issues is of more concern than ever.
