Palokaj: Unsolved issues in the region accelerate EU expansion

Time correspondent in Brussels, Augustin Palokaj, has said that since the start of the war in Ukraine, dramatic changes have taken place in the European Union, and that the enlargement process is now seen more as a political process than a technical one. 

Palokaj in "Interaktiv" emphasized that now there is a will from the EU to accept members, and from the candidate countries to integrate. 

"Dramatic changes have taken place after the war in Ukraine and the EU has begun to see the enlargement process as a political and peace process, and not necessarily as a technical process where criteria must be met. But as far as the Western Balkans is concerned, there is a positive fact that is geography. The Balkans is like an enclave surrounded by the EU and has nowhere to go but to the EU. When there are influences from Russia and China, it is the Serbian factor where there is influence from these countries", he said. 

And, regarding the integration of the Western Balkans in the EU, Palokaj stated that the process has been slow and the fault for this lies with both sides. 

"Impacts in the Western Balkans region are carefully observed but are not dramatized so much as to think that there could be a war. However, since there are unresolved issues in the Balkan region, not only in the case of Kosovo and Serbia, but also in Bosnia, the aim is to speed up the enlargement process, make EU membership a feasible goal for the nations in the Western Balkans and believe and those for that purpose. This will stimulate the resolution of open issues and internal reforms in these countries", he stressed.