EU announces ambitious expansion plans in western Balkans

After letting 13 Eastern and central European states join the European Union roughly a decade ago, it seemed Brussels had grown tired of enlargement. The prospect of adding western Balkan nations to the bloc were put on the back burner.

But now the European Commission has announced ambitious plans for a grand, new push toward enlargement, hoping to welcome western Balkan states in the EU within the next seven years.

The bloc’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called the news a turning point for Europe’s future. “The next months will be not only intense but also crucial to make sure that this historic and unique opportunity is seized,” she said.

Accession negotiations with Montenegro, the smallest candidate country, started in 2012, and talks with the largest, Serbia, began two years later. Both states are regarded as frontrunners for accession, although Serbia still has a few hurdles to clear: the relationship to Kosovo is unclear, organized crime and corruption are rampant, the country’s constitutional legality is in question and freedom of the press is limited. Montenegro, a member of NATO since 2017, faces similar issues, particularly with regard to corruption.

“There is no shortcut,” said Johannes Hahn, the Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. He believes that by 2025, the countries will be able to become more democratic, constitutional and competitive. “We wouldn’t have recommended them otherwise,” he told DW. …

“Have the EU bureaucrats decided not to admit Turkey?”

It seems that they are leaning away from it, but no formal decision has been issued.

Turkey is supposed to attend attend a meeting in Bulgaria next month, with three EU Commission heads, like talks are going ahead, but the French President has recently proposed a new category of “Partnership”, rather than membership for Turkey.

The Turkish invasion of Afrin in Syria, using jihadi militias who are committing ISIS-like war crimes (many of them were previously ISIS fighters), could not have come at a worse time, for Turkey’s chances of admission into the EU.

“When did NATO go from being a defensive alliance to an offensive one?”

Turkey claims that they are only crossing their border into Afrin in response to terrorists operating from there. There is little credibility that actual attacks were coming from there, but everybody knows that the Kurdish groups there are politically affiliated with the PKK (which has historically engaged in a massive terrorist campaign inside Turkey).

The Syrian Kurdish YPG/YPJ, who were our essential allies on the ground to defeat ISIS, have the same political association to the PKK, so it is a real tough issue for the USA. The elements in Afrin are separate and cutoff from the elements who fought with us against ISIS, so we don’t have the same level of alliance with them, but as far as the Syrian Kurds are concerned, they are all one family.

Despite the fig leaf claim of responding to some supposed attack, and hostile political associations, the nature of Turkey’s assault has brought widespread criticism from Western countries. Civilian targets have been attacked, jihadi mercenaries hopped up on amphetamines have been unleashed, and prisoners apparently murdered - either after being tortured, or having their bodies mutilated and defiled after they were killed.

The Afrin attack, Turkey’s support of jihadis, its increasing domestic political repression and hostility in relations with Western Countries, are all seriously endangering Turkey’s continued membership in NATO. People are tentatively looking at the mechanisms of suspending membership, and definitely considering options to Incirlik Air Base (perhaps with several smaller facilities around the region).

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